In all my years of restoring 1970-72 Oldsmobiles I have never seen front bumper guards on a 1970 A-Body. I was cleaning my barn and found these. Has anyone ever seen these before?

 

No '70 cutlass/442 ever came with factory front bumper guards. Those are most likey aftermarket company ones, like JC Whitney or something like that.

 

X2 I've seen guards like that before; think they are for full size pontiac though. It's sheer coincidence that they line up with your 70 bumper.

 

I agree that I don't think those are for a Cutlass/442. You mentioned you've not come across bumper guards on 70-72 Cutlass/442's. Here's a thread showing pictures of them on 71-72 cars. John


https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums...n-71-72-a.html

 

my 71 442 convertible came with them. At some point I removed and lost them.

 

Interesting. Only the Toronado had the option for front bumper guards in 1970. Part number 983175. Yet you will see lots of 70 A bodies that have rear bumperettes. I cannot find any reference to them even in the 1970 Assembly manual.

Of note with the 71/72 Cutlass bumperettes. Originally they were centered on the bumper in line with the center of the grills. This is actually shown in the 71/72 Assembly Manuals. However, in late 71 production changed the position of the front bumperettes to be closer to the center of the bumper. This was done for effectiveness. The original placement of the bumperette allowed the center of the bumper to make contact before the bumperette did. Back in the day, these bumper only had to withstand a 10 mph crash test. In later years of metric conversion some nimrod translated this to mean 10 km/hr (which is actually 6 mph) crash test.

 

Stamped on the bottom of them is:
1970/1, Olds F 85, Front R 1322400002 & L 1322400001.

 

I would bet those are from an aftermarket company & that they were made in 1970 or early '71 before the GM strike. Those part numbers are not GM numbers & it says for '70-'71 cars. That was the projected model year run, '70-'71, then they were supposed to change bodies to the collonade style for '72, but the strike pushed the change a year back. Same with all other divisions I believe? This is my theory & it may be wrong in several or all areas.

 

Scott, you're right on all comments.

 

I agree with what the other guys said. I'm used to seeing part numbers stamped or cast into parts. But not the model designation or year. Here's pictures of the factory 1971 front bumper guards. They have R and L but don't have part numbers stamped in them. John

P1010074-1.jpg

P1010076-1.jpg

P1010077-1.jpg

 

Pacewagon,
None of us are saying NOT to put them on your car. We're just saying they're not GM parts. One thing I noticed about those guards you have is they appear to have fasteners that don't require drilling the bumper. You can sure try them out to see if you like them. OEM's required bumper piercing.

NONE of these bumperettes (OEM or aftermarket) are that strong and will easily be damaged in a 10+mph collision.