The purpose of this Blog

This blog is to detail my 50 years (1973 - 2023) with a 1928 Chevrolet tourer, affectionately called "The Red Chev".

The acquisition, restoration, improvements and my experiences over the years are covered in as much detail as I can remember.

Some of the later postings include car club outings and other vintage car items that I hope will be of interest to people.

If you have the time, scroll back to where it all began in 1973 and follow the journey so far.

Thanks for dropping by.

Regards Ray Dean


See my new section "The Red Chev - Repairs, Improvements, Maintenance and Technical Details" located on the left hand side of the screen.




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Monday, May 30, 2011

2009 Bumpers at Last

I believe my Chev looks a lot smarter with bumpers than without, but before I tell the story, I will let you judge the difference, starting with the front:


And now the rear





For many years bumpers were just a dream. There were none available on the Australian market and the idea of making my own never appealed to me. Gradually the thought of bumpers faded away as a good idea that would never see the light of day. All that would change with the discovery of EBay.

While sourcing spares for the 2007 wedding restoration, I came across a front bumper on EBay, the first one I had ever seen as they are pretty rare, even in the states. Managed to be the successful bidder, but it cost me an arm and a leg. A few days later I purchased a rear set of bumpers, though not quite as expensive. The seller on EBay would not ship outside the USA, so after a few emails, Bill Chestwood from Billy Possum agreed to receive the bumpers in California and send the to me via FedEx. When they arrived I was disappointed that they were a lot rougher than I thought, so to this day they are tucked away in the garage, and I intend to restore them and try to recover some of the purchase price.

A few months later I purchased a good set of front bars, but it was getting too close to the wedding so I decided to shelve the idea of getting them fitted in time, and put them away, only to be joined by a very good rear set that I picked up the week after my daughter's wedding.

The bars gathered dust until early 2009 when I decided the time was right to fit them.

Lets start with the rear bars which I suspect had been re chromed by a hot rodder a few years earlier.
A lot of work was required to straighten the mounting brackets as they were severely bent out of shape, and welding repairs were done by a good friend, Geoff from Knoxfield Welding Services as 2 of the brackets were broken. The four bumper irons were also bent, but were a lot easier to bend back into shape. Several  coats of primer and full gloss black acrylic enamel were required to bring the mounting brackets up to scratch, and a few coats of clear were applied to the bumper irons. Fitting was a nightmare as there was no point of reference as every thing had been bent. So it was numerous fitting and removing until I was satisfied the look was acceptable.

The front bar had its own set of dramas. The support bar was a 29, which sets a lot more out from the car. A lot of of cutting and welding was required to convert the support bar to suit a 28 Chev, and was also done by Geoff from Knoxfield Welding Services. I did not have the $600 plus to have the front bumper irons polished and plated, so I sprayed them both in full gloss acrylic black enamel and a good friend Warren Hedges applied two very chrome looking pin stripes. In years to come I may have them fully polished and chromed, but for now they are fine.

So after 24 years on the road, my Chev finally had bumper bars.

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