Where to mount license plate with no rear bumper?

[Arl37]

My 69 C10 has no rear bumper. I don't think it came new with one. The PO, my son, had a real POS for a bracket and license plate light. Anyone have a picture of the original moiunting of a licence plate and LP light with out a bumper or any picts of how someone has installed their LP and LP light without a bumper?
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[lil hoodlum]

Not mine but maybe this will help you out!

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=484225


Good luck!

Keith

[special-K]

There was a bracket provided for trucks with no bumper optioned,but they are hard to find. I'd just get a bumper.

[fastwillie 696969]

i see some people just tape it in the window ,bailing wire works too

[gikken20]

I don't have back bumper or a tailgate on my 68, I always kept my plate in the back window until I got pulled over for not having a light on it. I haven't drove it in 6 years and I'm in the process of getting it going again but if I cant find a bumper to throw on it I found some bolts at the parts store with built in lights that I'm gonna use. I think it was 2 bolts for $20
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[cdowns]

i'd take a piece of scrap metal make a few bends drill a few holes go to parrts store for a generic light and mount the creation on the rear crossmember

[Longhorn Man]

Originally they were mounted on the drivers side, under the tailgate bolted to the verticle flat sheet metal that wa part of the bed floor.
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[Arl37]

All this was very helpful. I also found a fair picture in the factory assembly manual. The bracket that was on the truck is actually the correct bracket. It had been relocated and bent because of the installation of a trailer hitch. Also missing the light. Got it straghtend out and it I can drill a couple of holes to mount it. Should be able to find a light at a parts store.
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[CG]

Im curious why you dont put a rear bumper on there?

[ChevLoRay]

Reckon GM thought they were still an option at the time. Dealers wanted to be able to put their "Made outta Iron" bumpers, emblazoned with their dealership name, on the trucks they sold. But, not all of them got those engraved bumpers...mine was a smoothie with a checker-plate step top. Don't remember if it had the OEM license plate holder, or not.

[oldblue1968chevy]

I think i have the bracket you need..

Is this it?

[Arl37]

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[Arl37]

old Blue. Very similar but 69 (or bracket I have) is slightly different. Square holes for what I assume are for nylon nuts where your license plate mounting holes are round.

CG. My son put on a hitch that will have to be removed or relocated before it will accept a bumper. Probably put a bumper on down the road. Right now just getting it legal after a lot of restoration so I can drive it to the paint shop.
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[special-K]

Originally Posted by ChevLoRay

Reckon GM thought they were still an option at the time. Dealers wanted to be able to put their "Made outta Iron" bumpers, emblazoned with their dealership name, on the trucks they sold. But, not all of them got those engraved bumpers...mine was a smoothie with a checker-plate step top. Don't remember if it had the OEM license plate holder, or not.

I know trucks weren't required to be inspected here in MD until '73 or so. It was a loop hole for all the vans people were running back then. If you had a window van you'd take the seats out and show it to the DMV so they'd register it as a truck and you'd get around inspection. So,bumpers weren't mandated and you had to order one. It was as dumb then as it seems now. Who cares about inspections,mandating,etc? Doesn't a truck need protection from the rear as much as a car? Are grilles mandated? No,but every vehicle comes with one. Are emblems saying who made the vehicle mandated? You'll never see them leaving that off! It's like the spare tire thing. Oh,you wanted a spare tire? That'll cost ya. But,it had nothing to do with dealers wanting to stamp their name in step bumpers. That was just something they figured out as a good way to advertise. Back east they never did that. Only in certain parts of the country where truck sales were bigger and competition was greater.

[cdowns]

maybe GM figured that because these trucks had a top speed of 155mph and higher that nobody could catch them to hit the backend

[crazy longhorn]

Originally Posted by cdowns

maybe GM figured that because these trucks had a top speed of 155mph and higher that nobody could catch them to hit the backend

Yup if you get hit in the azz end, you just aint drivin fast enough! crazyL

[bollybib]

When I took the POs step bumper off, I found the factory LP bracket and light intact underneath. I liked the look without the bumper so I've been running it this way for a while and haven't been busted for equipment. As I recall from earlier investigation on this, the vehicle code says if the vehicle was first sold and registered with no rear bumper, you're ok without one.

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...5&postcount=96

[joemacho]

mines not a truck but heres how i did mine for temporay use i didnt like the big heavy steal bumper. all i did wat removed the old school lite and used a whole cutter and a drill press and made that..

[special-K]

Originally Posted by cdowns

maybe GM figured that because these trucks had a top speed of 155mph and higher that nobody could catch them to hit the backend

That must be it! Or,maybe it was only people with common sense drove trucks back then. They could all back up without hitting anything because they knew how to use mirrors for that as checking to see if the person behind is responding as fast as they are. It's an impulse for me when I have to jamb the brakes. I'm ready to weave right and get it on (must be the motorcycle rider in me...hey! They don't have rear bumpers either,do they)

[Longhorn Man]

bumpers were not reqiired on pickups till the mid 90's. This was a federal law, not state. Anyone remember seeing all those first generation S-10 trucks with no bumpers in the 80's and early 90's?
Some places seem to have forgotten this and have given our members a hard time/tickets, but, per federal DOT regs, no bumper is required.

[special-K]

I'm just saying states didn't require truck inspections until more modern times. In my state it was about the time these trucks were done. All trucks must have rear bumpers in my state because they are on the list of required safety equipment. This was the trend for most states,regardless of federal mandate. I never saw a square body or newer that came w/o a rear bumper,including S-series. I do recall seeing the Japanese-built trucks come w/o rear bumpers and figured it was some sort of loop hole for imports that slipped by the state bureaucrats. As far as I know they weren't listed as options on US-built trucks. I could be wrong there. Federal law didn't mandate the emissions equipment that California did,but if the vehicle was to be sold/registered in California the equipment was there from the factory.
Anyone can see,required or not,it makes no sense to sell a pickup truck with no rear bumper. The vehicle is incomplete w/o it as well as not fully safe. Hubcaps weren't mandated but every truck came with them,but no rear bumper? Half the trucks didn't have hubcaps on them anymore after a few years. Most didn't even care about them. I just think it was a way to build-in an option charge. Just good ole smoke and mirrors game playing. Like charging extra for an automatic transmission when they became "the standard". I saved about $1,100 on my '92 because I "opted" for a 5spd manual. I saved money by ordering the exception. Does that make any sense?

[406 Q-ship]

Originally Posted by special-K

I'm just saying states didn't require truck inspections until more modern times. In my state it was about the time these trucks were done. All trucks must have rear bumpers in my state because they are on the list of required safety equipment. This was the trend for most states,regardless of federal mandate. I never saw a square body or newer that came w/o a rear bumper,including S-series. I do recall seeing the Japanese-built trucks come w/o rear bumpers and figured it was some sort of loop hole for imports that slipped by the state bureaucrats. As far as I know they weren't listed as options on US-built trucks. I could be wrong there. Federal law didn't mandate the emissions equipment that California did,but if the vehicle was to be sold/registered in California the equipment was there from the factory.
Anyone can see,required or not,it makes no sense to sell a pickup truck with no rear bumper. The vehicle is incomplete w/o it as well as not fully safe. Hubcaps weren't mandated but every truck came with them,but no rear bumper? Half the trucks didn't have hubcaps on them anymore after a few years. Most didn't even care about them. I just think it was a way to build-in an option charge. Just good ole smoke and mirrors game playing. Like charging extra for an automatic transmission when they became "the standard". I saved about $1,100 on my '92 because I "opted" for a 5spd manual. I saved money by ordering the exception. Does that make any sense?

The 1978 GMC SWB C15 Fleet, that my father bought new in California came with no rear bumper. I remember when we drove the truck to Michigan, the people were just floored that you could buy a truck without a rear bumper in CA. I believe there were some states that required rear bumper for inspection, but it was not a federal DOT requirement. Remember all those trucks in Texas and Oklahoma that had step bumpers with the dealers name cut into them, well those were all no rear bumper trucks when new. I don't know when rear bumpers became standard but it was not that uncommon to see the cheapy trucks here in SoCal without them.

BTW the lic plates was mounted to the lip under the tailgate that is the rear edge of the bed floor. It was on the left side, on my 1974 C10 stepper there is even dimples where the plate would get mounted.

[oldblue1968chevy]

I remember when I pulled the bed/tailgate something, that thing just fell out or something, I saved it and wondered what it was for ever until I saw one on the board lol