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

[Zilverado]

Good story Toonman, ya gotta love when things work out in the end - very satisfying.

It's very nice to have "customer service" people that know how to "serve" the customer. Hat's off to them. I had a good experience myself the day before Christmas Eve with a customer service person willing to stay late to make sure I got the right thing. It happened to be at a paint store (ran out of paint with one wall to go - 15 min. before the stores closed). Needless to say, people like this deserve our thanks and our repeat business.

[crossy]

"Apparently the Van Bumper looks Identical to the Pickup Bumper, but has different mounting holes"


I knew that :-) . them new bumpers are cheap too! DAVE

[ToonMan]

Yes! The Van Bumper looks Identical to the Pickup Bumper, but has different mounting holes. Didn't know it then, but I do now!!!
Yes I do Love it when thins work our!!! Reminds me of my fenderskirt deal!!! Yes the Customer Service was Awesome!!

[ToonMan]

Well, The New Bumper is on, as is my New Class 3 Hitch, and I have hidden the Trailer Light Plug behind the Hinged License Plate!! I am Happy!!!!!!!!!!!

[ChrisK10]

Hey Rob, thanks for sending me pics of your trailer light plug, looks great! I'm glad things finally worked out for you concerning your bumper, what an ordeal. Now you just gotta post some pics of your bumper so we can see how great that looks as well!

-Chris