Tubular Rear Bumper Guards

[Dan Case]

Question on the SAAC forum in 2015, which may be interesting to members of this forum: Are the rear bumpers on a 427 cobra and a 289 cobra the same???


The tubular "Rear Bumper Guard", no, they are different in several ways. All were produced in California by AMCO®, which was the same company that provided sun visors and wind wings.

I don't have a lot of this type information for 427 Cobras but I borrowed a dirty rusty original 427 Cobra rear bumper guard that has not been on a car in decades to compare with three similar Cobra ones. I used the best, least dings, Cobra part for comparison this morning and collected some simple data and pictures. I used fine steel wool and lubricant to clean them up a little for all the handling I was going to be doing.

You can, with a little extra effort install either part on either type car but they won't look exactly the same when you are done. So does this information cover all Cobras and 427 Cobras with tubular rear bumper systems? I don't know. Good question but this is a start.

The data table measurements were done and listed in ways as to make field studies easier. DC 11-30-15



Dan

[krausewich]

Thank you for the great info Dan!
Enjoy seeing the differences between the models. Especially the subtle ones.

Mike.

[strictlypersonl]

I wouldn't be surprised if the change of overall width was associated with the change from rectangular to round tail-lights.

[Dwight]

thanks Dan

[Dan Case]

Originally Posted by krausewich

Thank you for the great info Dan! Mike.

Originally Posted by Dwight

thanks Dan

You are welcome.

[Dan Case]

Originally Posted by strictlypersonl

I wouldn't be surprised if the change of overall width was associated with the change from rectangular to round tail-lights.

Maybe, I have no idea when anybody was aware that a tail lamp change was coming. If the idea was to create more clearance for round tail lamps and separate reflectors, they failed as clearance to the lenses got worse based on pictures of cars that have not been damaged in the rear.

The details that are visible looking at cars that haven't been bashed in the rear is that the shapes of Cobras and 427 Cobras bodies around the tail lamps are different. The apparent change in front to back dimensions is to get back bumper guard hoop to aluminum body clearance lost when the 427 Cobra shape became more stylized and extended the tail lamp area rearward a little.

Disclaimer. These slides below try to show as close as easy practical three chassis from approximately the same view point. The alignments aren’t perfect but they are good enough to illustrate the three versions for affect. I tried to get the relative scales between pairs close. I made a yellow line trace of the contour of the Cobra skin between bumper mount and tail lamp and copied it over the 427 Cobra pictures to further point out the general difference in shapes of the two type bodies.

[Jim Maxwell]

Dan's wonderful detailed facts regarding Cobras continues to fascinate and amaze me. Thanks very much for the information. One tiny bit of additional information I can provide is that AMCO also supplied the 260-289 Cobra luggage racks.

Jim

[Dan Case]

Originally Posted by Jim Maxwell

... Thanks very much for the information. One tiny bit of additional information I can provide is that AMCO also supplied the 260-289 Cobra luggage racks.

Jim

You are welcome and thanks for the follow up on the luggage racks.