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MG TD TF 1500 - bumper repair and replating Dallas area

I was having a pleasant sun down drive in my '53 TD last week when I was hit pretty hard from behind. Although my bumper guards and bumper don't show a huge amount of distortion they will probably have to be re-plated after they are straightened. Problem is the first two body shops I have visited don't do such repair anymore and don't know where repair/re-plating can be done in the Dallas, TX area. Anyone out there have a suggestion?

Bobby L.
B. F. Loughridge

Bobby - I suspect that you are going to find that it is terribly expensive to get bumpers straightened and chromed. Unless that is an original bumper and overiders, you will be ahead of the game to get a new bumper and overiders. Cheers - Dave
DW DuBois

Thanks, Dave. I wouldn't have been considering re-plating except that my existing bumper may be an original and the insurance company of the person who hit me is paying for it. I'm not sure how to differentiate an original bumper from a repro anyway.

Regards,

Bobby L.
B. F. Loughridge

Wells Bumper about 20 miles East out of Tulsa on Highway 412 does bumpers and chroming. He also does re-plating of many other parts. He re-chromed my windshield frame, my dash chrome strip and spare tire nut on the TF. In my book, he does excellent work. About a 7 hr round trip from Dallas. PJ
Paul161

Bobby,

The TD/TF originals have a much wider return edge when looking from the plan(top view) when compared to the bottom edge.
Nice to see on owners cars seeking original fittings.
However,the original front blades are notoriously damaged and rare to find in even restorable condition.

A good chrome plater is well worth a 7 hour round trip.

Cheers
Rob Grantham
TF3719("Aramis"),TF9177("Athos").
R GRANTHAM

Thanks, Paul and Rob; that is the kind of information I need. I will examine my bumper from the suggested perspective tomorrow, but I expect it is probably a repro.

Regards,

Bobby L.

















B. F. Loughridge

http://abingdonspares.com/service/
Look at the upper left picture- that shows the much wider cross section of the blade. I'm with the above- if original, fix, if repop, just replace. That said, even if not original, a rechrome would problably look and hold up better. George BTW, with a nearby pack and ship and UPS, no need to drive anywhere...
George Butz

I have the original bumper from my car that was damage repaired many years ago and re-chromed, the problem with it is, it was split at the crank hole and after welding they left a slight dip on the top. Instead of filling it in, they polished and plated it, not too bright! I'll probably have it re-done by Wells Bumper in the future, as of now I have a pair of repos on the car. PJ
Paul161

Here's my original bumper, it matches Buds drawing with the top lip wider by 1 MM than the bottom. The tractor was just a handy place to stand it up. Grin. PJ


Paul161

Paul, the top lip is almost a half inch wider front to rear on the originals. Could you have an older repro? They have been made that way(ie not original) since the factory NOS ones were gone back in the day.
George Butz

Bobby,
Go to the Abingdon Spares website shown below.
It shows the cross-section of the original bumpers and how the top edge of the bumper extends beyond the bottom edge:
http://abingdonspares.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/bumper.jpg

Mark Stolzenburg
Chesterfield, MO
TF 8263
Mark Stolzenburg

My damaged rear bumper is undoubtedly a repro, so the question is where to buy a new repro replacement? The only two distributors I know are Moss and Abingdon spares. Does anyone know whether they use the same manufacturer?

If I buy from Moss (or LBCC) I will be buying #110-908 Major Bumper Ass'y Rear listed at $449.99.

I tried looking at Abbingdon Spares on-line catalog, but it wasn't quite as easy to decipher as Moss. I don't know how the parts quality may compare between the two companies.

Any comments are certainly welcome.

The access to blueprints of the bumper posted by George and Mark above were appreciated and made it easy to determine that my damaged bumper is a repro.

Regards,

Bobby L.
B. F. Loughridge

Half inch wider, might be George, I didn't actually get it level, but the top is much wider. PJ
Paul161

FWIW, I have a friend who has TF bumpers that have the profile of the originals, but were repros he bought 30 years ago. So I don't know if it necessarily follows that the longer upper section means the bumpers are necessarily original to the car, though they certainly look more original than the current repros.
David Littlefield

Interesting David. Could they possibly have been NOS? I have just never seen any repro that was right, but since different suppliers have made over the years possible. George
George Butz

I don't think so, George. He said he bought them from Moss and he was pretty definitive that they were reproductions.
David Littlefield

I have a tendency to think the front bumper from my car is an original, here's why. The car sat for 20 years or more in a building after the engine fire and crash, then it was bought by a gent from Alabama, then it was sold to another fellow from Alabama and then I bought it. The car was crashed before it was put to rest many years ago. The front bumper was split at the crank hole, repaired and re-chromed before being put to rest. Some repairs were started but never completed. The car wasn't very old when this happened. PJ
Paul161

I had a set of repo (maybe BMC replacements?) bumpers bought from Moss in 1970. They did not have the profile of the originals.

And the overriders are slightly wider on the repos (actually Sprites etc.) than the TD/TF. Really hard to detect unless you know what you are looking for.
Christopher Couper

This thread was discussed between 20/10/2015 and 24/10/2015

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