Bumper bars?

[bathurst77]

Whatever happened to front bumper bars?
up to the 80s all cars had big steel/chrome ones, then they went black or grey plastic, then body coloured plastic, now hardly any cars have them, the front is all grill and lights.They seemed to sneak this in gradually

I know in the 70s USA had that 5 mph law so they had huge bumpers and the grey plastic ones would pop back in shape from small parking knocks.
but now if you tap something or someone backs into you it would cost a bomb for a huge panel. Some of the rear "bumpers" are nearly as bad.

Maybe we should start a save the bumper movement

[danzvtil]

Pedestrian crash regs,aerodynamics. That is all.

[Rallye Sport]

Funny, I was just admiring the bends and curves whilst polishing the rear bar ready to go back on my Mk1. I've done my bit for the 'save the bumper' movement today

[Junkyard-Dog]

[Citroënbender]

Before the period when those bars were mandated, I remember lobbying ads in publications like National Geographic, showing the damage and cost of 5MPH nudges in cars with mismatched bumpers. Anyone else remember those?

[73 4V XB]

Originally Posted by danzvtil

Pedestrian crash regs,aerodynamics. That is all.

You forgot fuel economy.
They still have front and rear protection, you just can’t see it under the plastic facade.

[dunga]

Poverty pack amarock doesn't have a rear bumper .

[Vesper Martini]

Originally Posted by dunga

Poverty pack amarock doesn't have a rear bumper .

Not many trade utes do, I've always wondered how they get away with that.

[ebv8]

they still have bumper bars they are just under the plastic covers
made of fibreglass or steel just like the old ones

[The Yeti]

It goes hand in hand with the lack of enthusiasm towards cars, they started getting boring when they lost their bumpers

[mike_nofx]

Originally Posted by The Yeti

It goes hand in hand with the lack of enthusiasm towards cars, they started getting boring when they lost their bumpers

Not sure why people always try and make the connection between older cars as being more fun and newer ones only being boring. Was everyone a car enthusiast back in the 70’s? So who was buying the Toyota’s and Mazda’s back then?

As a guess, I’d say that in the final years of Aussie manufacturing, a higher percentage of Commodores and Falcons sold were V8 or Turbo, compared with regular 6’s. In the 70’s I’d imagine the percentage of the regular non performance 6’s was much higher.

[Citroënbender]

Nostalgia isn’t what it used to be, eh?

Good point on the sportified versions, the Stigma Turbo hardly sold like hotcakes, the Bluebird TRX (“He’s gettin’ ready, she’s gettin’ ready, they’re gettin’ ready for the TRX”) sold modestly but was a conspicuous trim.

From memory the most common non-povo Commodore to see, was an SL/E with the 4.2.

[The Yeti]

Originally Posted by mike_nofx

Not sure why people always try and make the connection between older cars as being more fun and newer ones only being boring. Was everyone a car enthusiast back in the 70’s? So who was buying the Toyota’s and Mazda’s back then?

As a guess, I’d say that in the final years of Aussie manufacturing, a higher percentage of Commodores and Falcons sold were V8 or Turbo, compared with regular 6’s. In the 70’s I’d imagine the percentage of the regular non performance 6’s was much higher.

Toyota’s and mazdas were fun back then, they weren’t white goods which wheels

I can honestly say there isn’t one new car locally available that excites me

But throw me a 70’s Mazda 1300 or corolla and I’ll have a **** tonne of fun

[mike_nofx]

Originally Posted by The Yeti

Toyota’s and mazdas were fun back then, they weren’t white goods which wheels

I can honestly say there isn’t one new car locally available that excites me

But throw me a 70’s Mazda 1300 or corolla and I’ll have a **** tonne of fun

I think there’s been plenty of fun cars made in the last 5 years or so. Yes definitely the amount of ‘fun cars’ took a hit when Australian manufacturing ended, but it certainly didn’t end with steel bumpers.

The difference with modern fun cars and classic fun cars is that modern fun cars REALLY move.

[Citroënbender]

Yep, make mine a new Giulia please!

[The Yeti]

Originally Posted by mike_nofx

I think there’s been plenty of fun cars made in the last 5 years or so. Yes definitely the amount of ‘fun cars’ took a hit when Australian manufacturing ended, but it certainly didn’t end with steel bumpers.

The difference with modern fun cars and classic fun cars is that modern fun cars REALLY move.

That takes the fun out of them, because they also stop and turn, it makes them vanilla

[GCRXR6]

Originally Posted by The Yeti

Toyota’s and mazdas were fun back then, they weren’t white goods which wheels

I can honestly say there isn’t one new car locally available that excites me

But throw me a 70’s Mazda 1300 or corolla and I’ll have a **** tonne of fun

Ahhh...this thread is about bumper bars, not about the 70's? Fun? Yeah pffft.

[The Yeti]

Originally Posted by GCRXR6

Ahhh...this thread is about bumper bars, not about the 70's? Fun? Yeah pffft.

Doesn’t matter make it 80’s even 90’s once the bumpers stoped so did the fun factor pffffft

[smoo]

Originally Posted by bathurst77

Whatever happened to front bumper bars?
up to the 80s all cars had big steel/chrome ones, then they went black or grey plastic, then body coloured plastic, now hardly any cars have them, the front is all grill and lights.They seemed to sneak this in gradually

I know in the 70s USA had that 5 mph law so they had huge bumpers and the grey plastic ones would pop back in shape from small parking knocks.
but now if you tap something or someone backs into you it would cost a bomb for a huge panel. Some of the rear "bumpers" are nearly as bad.

Maybe we should start a save the bumper movement

To be fair, repairing or replacing the chrome on some of the older cars is an expensive exercise, and it’s very obvious to the eye once there’s an imperfection on them. An issue for fussy owners.

Maybe it was the yanks way of protecting their auto industry by ordering the Euros to butcher their designs.
Worried about irrelevant frontal impact standards while airline pilots were flying ****ed and serials killers had free reign across the mainland thru their hey days 1960s-‘80s.



Versus



Not as visually insulting by the end of the 1980s but it still didn’t look right.






Speaking of serial killers, Ted Bundys Beetle didn’t appear to be affect by the law.