[Bobby Goat]

Seeking opinions on whether the bottom flange on a 70-73 front bumper should be painted body color or left in flat charcoal (natural endura color).

In an old "shark tank" thread here, Bill Oxley stated that the bottom flange should be unpainted, and this seems to make sense since it visually rounds out the opening between the valance and the bumper, and better hides the mounting bolts.

But I've yet to find a photo of an original car showing the flange left unpainted, and it seems the flange is painted on all the restored car photos I can find. Which way is factory correct?

Please see the area I am referring to in the attached photo.

Thanks!
Bob

[68bird400HO]

Here is an older thread with some credible data. I have also seen untouched, original paint noses and that bottom lip was clearly unpainted. A lot of resto shops, even high end ones, do what they think is right or makes sense and don't always have access to original data points on these fine details. That's what makes this board such a great resource, especially the 70-73 firebird forum.

Also note the paint on the valance as well as the lower lip on the nose in the first picture...

http://forums.maxperformanceinc.com/...=Bumper+flange

[4birds]

Here are pictures of an original paint 72 nose that had a plastic valance. You can clearly see that that bottom strip was black, and then masked off for the color of the car being sprayed. (in this case, white) In the third picture, the is a piece of the masking take that was not removed on the production line and stayed there under the plastic valance panel, protected since 1972.

Again, this was an original paint 70000 mile 72 Esprit I owned.

[njsteve]

Is it actually black or just the unpainted urethane material on that bumper?

Here is my original paint, 19,000 mile 1973. No black area: all painted. This car had the polyethylene valance originally. It lasted only a couple weeks before it was replaced under warranty with the steel valance in this photo. It has a correct poly valance on it as of last year.

Original owner photo provided for reference. Taken the day he bought the car, with polyethylene valance on it. (and no, it's not a 3/4 scale car - he is 6'8" tall!)

[x-bird2]

to be honest, that bit of the car has always seemed to me to be one of those items that is going to vary based on the paint line's timetable and the diligence of the worker prepping the car. IMHO the steel was consistently blacked out then either got taped off or sprayed over in body color depending on who was doing the prep on the line.

[FunctionalShaker]

At 6' 8" he must not have had much head room.

[njsteve]

You think he's tall? Check out his wife! Both will be at the MCACN show in November 2016 to reunite with their car.

[4birds]

[QUOTE=njsteve;5519312] Is it actually black or just the unpainted urethane material on that bumper?

It appears it was painted black along the bottom first. Then the strip was masked off (probably with one long piece of tape) and then sprayed body color later.

Upon close up inspection, you can definitely see the white overspray on top of the blacked out area.

[dpoltzer]

That was a great question you asked Bobby as I wondered the same thing. My 70 Formula is in the paint shop now and I will have that lower edge sprayed black to appear original then!

[FunctionalShaker]

I'm wondering if they blacked out that section on light body colored cars and left it alone on the darker ones? I was looking at pics in the Fabulous Firebird book and on the darker colored formula, page 65, you can see that lip/flange, but not so easily on the T/A on page 118.

[Transamric]

Isn't it true that the bumpers were not painted in the paint line with the rest of the front end pieces, but were painted according to GM's specs by the outside vendor who manufactured them and supplied them to Pontiac? That's one of the reasons we see a bit of paint shade mismatch to the rest of the front clip on true low mile survivor FB's.

[njsteve]

My 73's bumper is a noticeably different shade of white than the rest of the car's original paint.

[bird72]

my 72 original paint nose is silver with no black strip.

[unruhjonny]

This is a fantastic thread

- I have wondered this myself, because sometime that strip seems to stand out like a sore thumb when it has paint on it!

[Bobby Goat]

I just found this 1970 Trans Am Press Photo in an ebay auction. Based on the clean look of the valance to bumper opening, it is clear that the bumper flange is blacked out. Also it is interesting to note that the center valance bolt head is painted body color... it looks good that way, but I wonder if that's the way the cars were built when they rolled off the assembly line. Opinions?


Finally, based on the different data points, can we draw any conclusions about what is proper with respect to a blacked out flange? Would it be fair to say that metal valance cars should have blacked out bumper flange, while plastic valance cars did not?

Thanks to all who contributed to this thread,


Bob

[cal30_sniper]

My '73, which I wholeheartedly believe is still wearing it's original coat of factory Buccaneer Red after completely disassembling the car, is painted red in this area. My bumper is stamped 5 18 73.

I don't know if the '73 bumpers are different than 70-72, but that area on my bumper is not endura. The endura covering comes to an end on the bottom of the bumper just above the lip, and the lip and area immediately above it is exposed metal.



This image shows where the endura covering ends on the bottom of my bumper:

[bird72]

I am starting to think they came either way, black or not.

[68bird400HO]

Originally Posted by bird72

I am starting to think they came either way, black or not.

From the data points we are seeing here, i think it is looking more like a process change at some time before or during the 72 model year. Need more data on original paint cars to pinpoint it.

[weranc55]

Originally Posted by 68bird400HO

From the data points we are seeing here, i think it is looking more like a process change at some time before or during the 72 model year. Need more data on original paint cars to pinpoint it.

I agree. All the 70 71 original paint cars I have seen have the black paint. They may have changed in 72 and 73 because of the valance.

[unruhjonny]

i would surmise that all bumpers were painted the same;
i believe that cars with the plastic valance completly covered up this area.