1974 corvette rear bumper

[robert Hyler]

Were all the 1974 bumpers split in the middle?

[Philip C.]

YES *NM*

[Ken B.]

Re: 1974 corvette rear bumper

Yes they are..And it is the only year for it

[Joe L.]

Re: 1974 corvette rear bumper

robert-----

...and the bumper substructure, both front and rear, was unique to 1974. It's completely different from 1975 and later, even though the bumper covers look very similar (except for rear "split" and some relatively minor aspects of the front bumper cover).

[Philip C.]

Re: 1974 corvette rear bumper AND

you can forget about finding any orig. ones left, my car 16,000 mile in a heated and A/C garage for its whole life (since 76 anyway) the bumpers went south! the mufflers and pipes are like new.I put on the new flex-fiberglass bumpers look great but you have to fit them. Phil 8063

[Joe L.]

Re: 1974 corvette rear bumper AND

Phil-----

Yup. These early polyurethane bumpers were not the most durable pieces GM ever came up with. Of course, during their development period, GM was more-or-less desperate to come up with something that would enable them to meet the then-new bumper laws.

NOS examples of these bumpers are as scarce as hen's teeth. However, I never recommend that anyone purchase one even if they find one available for a bargain-basement price. These bumpers were last manufactured for GM a LONG time ago. So, that means that even the newest of them are now VERY old. These things will deteriorate in the box just about like they did on your car. So, purchasing one is a real "crap-shoot". Even if it appears ok, how much of its life is already gone?

[Paul B.]

Re: 1974 corvette rear bumper AND

Joe is right on the money as usual. The '74 frame back there is like a '69-'73 frame except for addition holes/ovals for the rear bumper impact slide system. Also, the '74 bumper is the easiest to change out of the '74-'82 cars because of this. The Eckler's true two piece "FlexFit" is the one I put on my 45k mile 5 Star Bowtie Orange coupe. It is the most "correct appearing" with the letter indents and the "curvature" of the "seam". The one piece TrueFlex/ACI type replacement bumpers have a kind of "circular saw cut" that squares the edges of the seam. On a dark colored car, the seam seems to dissappear.

[robert Hyler]

Re: 1974 corvette rear bumper

so my vin and title show to be a 1974 so probably bumper has been replaced by someone. Thanks for the help. I am sure I will have "newbie" questions as the restoration proceeds.