Rear Bumper Story

[ToonMan]

ToonMan's Bumper Dilemma

For over a Year I have had a Rear Bumper for my '78 Chevy Pickup sitting in my Garage, But could not put it on. I wasn't being lazy, I just had no brackets in which to mount it!!!! That began my long search!!! After looking everywhere, I started to wonder if these brackets even existed!!!! LMC had them, but they were a little too much $$ for me. Well with the Help of Marilyn at Bowtie Bits, I found a set of affordable Brackets for the Bumper!!!! Well, They got here, and guess what!!!!!!!! They don't fit the Bumper!!!!!!!!! I wait all this time to get a set of brackets and then this!!!!!!
Discouraged, I took off to Home Depot, to get some supplies for our Bathroom remodel. In the
parking lot I saw a Chevy Van of the same vintage as my truck. I noticed that the mounting bolts
were in the same pattern as the bumper I had at home!!!!!!!!!!! I had a Van Bumper!!!!!! Apparently the Van Bumper looks Identical to the Pickup Bumper, but has different mounting holes. Go Figure!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Now I have to decide whether I want to modify the brackets I waited so long to find, or find another bumper!!!!!!!! What a Choice!!!!!!
So, I headed over to Chevy Corner, (73 - Present Chevy Truck Wrecking Yard about 2 miles from
my house!) to talk to my buddy Roland. My thoughts were to see if he had a used Bumper for me!! I walked into his office, and began to tell my tale. Before I could finish, he smiled and said "You have
a Van Bumper". I shook my head and told him yes!!! He checked his inventory and was unable to locate one. He then switched to the Wrecking Yard listing on his computer, to check the yards in the greater Portland area and found nothing!! By this time I was wondering if my truck would forever live with the ugly work bumper currently on my truck. (That work bumper clashed with my fender skirts!!!) But then Roland found it!!!!!! Light Truck Parts in Portland had Brand New Chrome Bumpers for my truck!!!!!!! After all of this headache, I saw a
glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel. I drove over to Light Truck Parts, they were out of stock so
I ordered the Bumper, & picked it up the next day.
Now I have the Right Brackets for the Right Bumper!!!!!!!!!! That is a good feeling!!!!!!!!!! With my shop full, ( 56 Cameo, 56 Panel & 3 Motorcycles live there) my Dad has volunteered his Garage for me to put it on. With all of the rain we've had, I
think I'll take him up on that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Anyone need a Van Bumper!!!!!!!!!!
A special thanks to Marilyn & Jeff at Bowtie Bits, and Roland at Chevy Corner.

Rob….The ToonMan