What do you guys think of this Bumper?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=001&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&viewitem=&item=110115084607&rd=1,1

Original or cheap repro?

I would guess cheap repro, but it's really hard to tell with out seeing a close up of the ends of the blades.

Bob M has a nice write up on his site on how to tell the difference.

Unfortunately, I have no photos on my site of Front Bumpers, but below are two photos from Original MGB which may help. Note that one thing some bumpers don't copy too well are the flat spots where the mounting bolts seat. The OE bumpers I have seen tend to have fairly well defined mounting bolt seats, while lesser bumpers have more rounded seats. One thing that is hard to judge from photos is proper hole spacing for the mounting bolts. I would ask the seller if he is willing to take it back if it doesn't fit properly. YOU will have to make certain (as best you can) that your mounting bars are setup correctly and then check against the new bumper. If your old bumper mounting bars have been beatup over the years, it might be worth the cost to get new ones.

Not enough info to know. Can you ask the seller to provide the proof that it's NOS? He/she should be able to provide you with a factory part number that would be on a sticker on the bumper or on the packaging surrounding it.

Shawn Escue

Can't tell for sure from the pic, but from the appearance of the wrapper I would guess that it is a repro. Ask the guy for a close up of several sections of the chromed face and one or two of the back side. Poor surface prep and thin chrome coupled with a cheap looking coat of dull silver paint on the back side will cinch it to be a repro.

Jack

And the sticker should be one with British Leyland colors and the BL emblem.

Jack

***

Looks from the packaging that it's a VB bumper. Repro. I doubt he knows where it came from because he states in the auction that he 'got a bunch of parts with a parts car'.

I bought a NOS bumper a number of years ago and it was wrapped in a white cloth tape, not paper. It took forever to get the glue off because it had dried on the bumper.

Dave

Don't know how old this one is, but the one I still have that I put on when I restored my GT back in the late 80s was made in Japan and had those little "Made In Japan" stickers on it. If it could be proved that it was one of those, it would be a good deal. But it does look like an aftermarket unit to me, and some are very good, and some pretty cheesey.

That Japanese bumper has been a very good bumper, and after 19 yrs on a daily driver, shows very little more than a spot or two of very light surface rust on the back side (to be expected, I think) and none on the chrome side. It can probably go for many more years with a little rust treatment and a repaint of the backside. FWIW.

Before I put any chromed trim back on when I restored the car, I put a coat of the best carnuba wax I could find on the backside. If I had a new bumper to put on today, I would give it a good coat or two of silver epoxy paint on the back side instead. The back side paint they come with may be good on the good bumpers, but I don't think it could hurt to put a "known" good quality epoxy coating on over it just to know you have a good tough coating there.

NOS bumpers have always been wrapped in white cloth tape (at least all the ones I have seen).

Anyone have a good original front Bumper for a '63 to sell? :)

Thanks guys!

It's a repo! But what's the problem if you can get it cheap ? It looks nice and it'll hold you over untill an original pops up, if that's what you want. But, dont think an original that needs rechroming, (If it's chromed right with copper base), is going to be cheap when it's all over. It all depends on how much money your willing to put out. JMHO. PJ

I want to say Knox wanted $170-190 each to rechrome Binabox's bumpers, it's not cheap. New repros are actually a little less. (was another 'fight' I lost)