School Me on '71 Cuda Rubber Bumpers

[Snake45]

I'm restoring a Monogram '71 Cuda in black. The chrome on the bumpers is in bad shape, a problem I'll have to solve. Replating is out. Alclad is out. Molotov pen is out. (Not putting any more money into this project, and I can't get any of that stuff locally.) So it's either airbrush 'em Testor Chrome, try to touch up the bad parts with something like Rub N Buff, or strip 'em and go black to match the rest of the car.

Problem is, I can't find refs that black bumpers would be "correct" for a '71. One ref says front bumper was available in black for '70 (but not rear) and makes no mention of elastomeric bumpers at all for '71. Did some web-searching and found one source that said the rubber bumpers WERE available in '71, but only in limited colors and black wasn't one of them.

I'm thinking of going black-bumper anyway, "correct" or not. The car will have an Argent (flat dark silver) grille area, and I'm doing the rear (taillight) panel in flat black, both of which should add some nice contrast to the all-black (and hopefully very glossy) body. Think black bumpers front and rear would look okay on this hot mess?

[dieseldog1970]

I remember reading in that other mag an article by Tim Boyd about the 1970 'Cuda which included info regarding the rubber bumpers abd which colors they were available with, I can't recall if the choices were a carry-over from '70 to '71? You might want to check out that article, or you can and maybe find info over at Allpar...may take some digging, but if the info is anywhere, I would say you will find it there.

Hope that helps.....sorta?  Lol.....kinda??

Edited March 25, 2017 by dieseldog1970

[Draggon]

This page seems to indicate the elastomeric front bumper was available in TX9 black, but no info on the rear.

http://www.cuda-challenger.com/cc/index.php?topic=92224.0

[KWT]

Paint it black... Super sleak and sexy

[Snake45]

This page seems to indicate the elastomeric front bumper was available in TX9 black, but no info on the rear.

http://www.cuda-challenger.com/cc/index.php?topic=92224.0

Great source! But after reading it, I'm more uncertain than ever. Some seem to think black was available, others don't.

Oh well!

[Snake45]

Paint it black... Super sleak and sexy

I'm leaning that way...especially since this will be sort of a '70s "Day Two" car anyway, not necessarily factory correct.

What I think I'm gonna do is, see if I can fix the back bumper with Rub N Buff (the problem on both bumpers is that the chrome is just about gone from the top half due to exposure and time--something I've seen on several of my own models) but is pretty much intact on the lower half. I've had occasional good luck with Rub N Buff on things like this before, but not always. If I get an even halfway acceptable look on the back bumper, I'll go with it, and then try to repeat it on the front. If the front doesn't turn out to suit me, I'll just strip it and go black on that end.

Fallback position is black on both ends, and "It's not supposed to be factory stock anyway."

[Snake45]

Here's the model in question, BTW. No, I didn't build it. Was originally planning to just clean it up, maybe hand-brush a coat of future on it, but under the dirt, the paint wasn't even good enough for that. So I stripped it, and now I'm polishing out the black plastic, just to show off. Probably going to go a slightly different way with the wheels & tires.

[Xingu]

I don't think I have ever seen them in black. I have seen plenty in hi-impact colors (the one I sold was yellow). Rears seem to be much rarer than the fronts.

 

Paint them black, yours would be a rare fish indeed.

 

[gtx6970]

I just ckd the parts book. No black rear on a 71

Actually for 1971 the only colors a rear was avail was Plum Crazy,( FC7 )  Tor-Red ( EV2) , Red (FE5 ) , Citron Yellow (FY3 ) and chrome.

A black rear is 1970 only

And for the  rear on a 1970 , the only colors avail were - chrome, bright red ( FE5 ) , lemon twist yellow ( FY1) , lime light ( FJ5 ) , violet metallic (FC7 ) blue fire metallic ( B5 ) , ivy green metallic ( F8 ) , burnt orange metallic ( FK5 ) , alpine white ( EW1 )   and finally black velvet (TX9 )

Thats only good  if you want to be OE correct,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, who says models have to be 100% OE correct

 

Although I have personally seen black bumpers on a 71 ( owner added )  I thought the look was ,,,,ok at best. Thats to much black IMO

My understanding color choices went down due to vendor supplying said  bumpers had trouble matching the paint . So when the bumpers showed up already painted  the colors didn't match the body color very well . Thus color choices became limited .

[Rodent]

Put a post in "wanted". I am sure that someone here will send you a better set if you want to stay with chrome. Must be quite a few of these in parts boxes.

[KWT]

Was gonna hit you with a PM, but says you can't receive them...

[Snake45]

Was gonna hit you with a PM, but says you can't receive them...

My box must be full again. Hafta clean that out here soon.

[Snake45]

Put a post in "wanted". I am sure that someone here will send you a better set if you want to stay with chrome. Must be quite a few of these in parts boxes.

Ah, this thing's not worth that much effort on anyone else's part, and also the exercise is kinda to just make do with what I have on hand.

[gtx6970]

Snake, I'll throw this out there.

I have one of these as a parts kit. ( for some reason there's no body in it )  I can look tomorrow and see of the bumpers are in there.

If they are, just say the word and they're yours . Actually I'll send you the whole box and you can do with it  as you want. ( I assure you,,,,I will never do anything with it, as I don't do 1.24th scale . And I have an original MPC 1971 Cuda builder )

[DumpyDan]

Interesting, thanks for the info did not know this happened back then

[1972coronet]

1971 Barracuda ( "BH" Barracuda , "BP" Grand Coupe , and "BS" 'Cuda ) were available with Elastomeric bumpers ; colours were limited to EV2 (Tor-Red) , GW3 (Sno-White) , GY3 ( Curious Yellow ** ) , FY1 (Lemon Twist) , and GB7 (Evening Blue Metallic) .

The grille was also body colour when the Elastomeric bumper was ordered ( and one could order a body colour grille separately from the bumpers ) ; no argent grille with body colour bumpers .

Here's thee definitive MoPar resource : http://www.hamtramck-historical.com/dealerships/1971PlymouthDealershipDataBook-02.shtml

** = Curious Yellow was named after the adult film of the same name from 1967  I Am : Curious Yellow  

Edited March 26, 2017 by 1972coronet

[Snake45]

Snake, I'll throw this out there.

I have one of these as a parts kit. ( for some reason there's no body in it )  I can look tomorrow and see of the bumpers are in there.

If they are, just say the word and they're yours . Actually I'll send you the whole box and you can do with it  as you want. ( I assure you,,,,I will never do anything with it, as I don't do 1.24th scale . And I have an original MPC 1971 Cuda builder )

I appreciate the offer, old friend, but trust me, this project isn't worth your trouble and the postage to do that. If we ever do another trade, then maybe, but till then, don't worry about it. Maybe someone else can put that bodyless kit to better use in the meantime.

[Snake45]

One more stupid question, Mopar Gurus:

With an Argent grille area, would the headlight rims (rings) be black or chrome? I'm seeing pics of "restored" cars with them both ways.

If both ways are acceptable, which would look better with an Argent grille on a black car?

[gtx6970]

Black on argent grill.

Chrome on body color grill

[Snake45]

Black on argent grill.

Chrome on body color grill

Exactly what I needed to know. Thanks much!

[Snake45]

Finally got around to "rechroming" the back bumper with Rub N Buff. It came out much better than I'd even hoped! Fingers crossed that the front one will come out well too....