Date: Thu, 13 Jul 2006 00:25:20 EDT
Reply-To: Oxroad@AOL.COM
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Jeff Oxroad <Oxroad@AOL.COM>
Subject: Re: 1990 Vanagon Plastic/Fibreglass bumpers
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
TM--
Your location may be key in finding one. Where are you at? People might pipe
up about having one available if they realise you're local, because they are a
bit of a pain to ship. That's not to say someone won't ship one.
The vancafe.com has the fiberglass bumper middle section for $600. Pricey but
I'll be a fair amount cheaper than VWOA if they are still available.
I've seen crew cabs with the fiberglass bumper on the front and the metal
bumper on the rear. It doesn't look bad in that configuration, but my guess is it
might be a little unbalanced on a passenger van.
You can easily mount a metal bumper on the rear BUT you will need the bumper
and the mounting brackets for a metal bumper whihc differ from the fiberglass
mounts. Also I think the corners on the fiberglass bumper are mounted at one
spot through the body, so you will have a hole in the body uncovered if you go
with the metal.
Having said all that if you have the full fiberglass body cladding that metal
bumper will be especially awkward looking.
I'll bet Chris (jordanvw) will pipe up as he ususally has some restored
fiberglass bumpers for sale.
With a little patience they are not impossible to find. You may find one in
need of repair, but liek others have said that repair can often be accomplished.
Finally if you go to metal bumpers on the front and leave the spoiler there
will be a gap on each side of the spoiler where it is notched out to accomodate
the fiberglass bumper. The gap is probably 1 inch by 2 inches. I'm sure you
could fill the gap with some rubber or something that would blend with the
black spoiler. I don't know what others have done to fill the gap. But the spoiler
with the metal bumper is not an unattractive look.
Removing the front fiberglass bumper will leave two metal risers that support
it which you will need to cut away and do a bit of repaint. And then the
fiberglass on the door bottoms will have to be removed for astetics and that will
leave about 4 (?) small rivit holes in the doors to be filled.
All in all, the fiberglass bumpers suck. But they do look better in my
opinion. And I suppose the metal bumpers are only marginally better. Certainly the
metal bumpers are easier to replace. But I think you can find a replacement for
you busted fiberglass bumper. And if insurance is footing the bill that $600
bumper is all that is available so I would think they would have to foot the
bill. However--and this is earthshattering news--them en-surance companies can
be a bit cagey.
Sorry about the hit. But you should be able to be up and running looking good
as new in a short time.
Best,
Jeff
83.5 Westy
LA,CA
In a message dated 7/12/2006 3:23:33 PM Pacific Standard Time,
tinkerman007@YAHOO.COM writes:
My 1990 Vanagon (Caravelle GL) has been rear-ended and
the fibreglass bumper has been broken. I checked the
various parts vendor sites for a new one but it seems
that new ones aren't available anymore, only metal
ones. I also understand that their mounting methods
are different and thus are not interchangeable. My car
body shop also says they're not compatible.
So can anyone suggest where I can get a Fibreglass
one? If