83hurstguy

Stupid question... I noticed on my '68 front bumper that there was a small dent that was created from the inside of the bumper, pointed outwards. You can see a picture of its location attached to this post for reference, it's right above the bumper bolt area, appears lined up with the frame rail. I never thought much of it because the bumper is pretty mangled due to getting pushed with a tractor, so it's junk.

I picked up a nice core front bumper to get re-chromed, and it has similar small dents (from the inside pointed out) on each side in the same location, appears coincidental with the front frame rails. This core bumper is really straight and doesn't appear to have ever been hit, but there's obviously no guarantees.

Has anybody seen this before? Is it the result of a low speed impact where the frame rail pushes on the bumper from the inside? (days before the 5 mph bumper rule). The dings are easily fixable, I'm just trying to figure out the source of issues like this before parts get refinished, then I find I have a fitment or missing parts issue later...

Oldsmaniac

Just a guess but maybe it is from using the old bumper jack which could flex the bumper and push it against the mounting bracket causing the outward dents...

83hurstguy

Thats another good point/thought, thanks.

I attached a pic of one of the two tiny dings on the nicer core bumper. Small and hard to get a picture of. Was debating if I needed to make a modification to the frame rail behind the bumper so it doesn't happen again.

Olds64

One thing I would do is not use a bumper jack. Get a small hydraulic floor jack and keep it in your trunk just in case.

Allan R

This is a weird topic, considering that Olds equipped these cars with a bumper jack specifically designed for the model year. What I don't understand is how the bumper jack (used as described in the owners manual) will cause a bumper to flex to the point of creating an outward dent. When I used mine back in the day, it never ever created a problem like this, and I'm sure that if it was a significant problem back in 68 models, there would have been something that Olds would have fixed quickly to avoid warranty problems with bumpers. Anyway, that's my 2¢.

I think the dents were caused by something else, like a midget hammering from the inside with a body pick.

5998DownUnder

I have over tightened bumper bolts on one of my other cars that has a chrome bumper, as a result I have pulled the bumper onto the bracket too much and caused that same damage.

allyolds68

It looks like a low speed impact and that's the end of the bumper brackets telegraphing through