What are these cable attached to front frame ? ,just below front bumper mounts, 72 Olds 88 Royale convert. one on each side, factory looking 7/16 or 3/8 bolt holding it on.
Had wheel well covers off for repair and noticed them

Driver side

Passenger side

 

The 1972 full size cars incorporated a spring steel bumper support system that was intended to provide some measure of crash absorption in a low speed collision. This was a precursor to the 5MPH bumpers mandated for the 1973 model year (bumpers that could actually survive a bump were a hot topic in the early 1970s). The attached page from the 1972 Olds engineering report talks about it. Note that the cables are not discussed in the report. I suspect they were an add-on to limit rebound with the system. The service bulletins should talk about it.

 

At first look you'd think ground strap. Later impact bumpers with the "shocks" didn't ground park lights well but usually incorporated a ground wire in the park light harness. I've fought with the ones on my 74 Hurst several times trying to get lights working properly.

72 had a direct connection bumper to frame though so shouldn't have needed an extra ground strap.

 

The more I look at it, Glenn, the more I think it's just a rebound limiter strap that was added as an "Oh s**t!" factory fix once they tried the cars in the real world. If the spring mounts could flex inward, they will also flex outward. Same goes for a minor scrape if you snag the corner of the bumper on the door frame when backing out of the garage. Pulling outward on one side will pivot the bumper on the springs and force the other side in, causing collateral damage. It's also possible that the cables were installed to protect the bumper from being pulled out of position when towing. I'm guessing there's a Service Bulletin that talks about this, but I don't have the 1972 issues in my collection. Also, a ground strap likely would have been a simple copper strap and not large diameter braided steel aircraft cable.

 

Factory fixes- hee hee. Factory came up with some zingers over the years too.

1998 Nats a 1972 Ninety Eight showed up with a "strange" radiator and heater hose configuration and got docked hard underhood for it.

Car had the "factory fix" installed to correct a heater gurgle/moan that some owners found objectionable, and the class judges didn't have a clue. The "fix" was to install a brass tee in lower radiator hose and route the heater return hose to that instead of the water pump, which had the heater hose nipple capped. The "fix" was refined by mid 73 to route the heater return to the top of the radiator cold side tank. That's why 74-later water pumps are either blinded at the heater connection or have a freeze plug pressed in.

And yes, we did get the docked points restored which moved the car from a 2nd place to a first.

Some of the "fixes" I've heard the Zone service folks talk about are amazing to say the least.

 

Both of my cables are broke, and violently, pass side bumper is shimmed quite a bit, so sure it suffered a hit or 2 in its life, I knew they were not ground straps,way too heavy and bolts are large also, figured some thing they used in the factory for production then were cut off when assembled,
Thanks for the reply.