1941 Buick accessory bumper ends--I think they're ugly!

[Matt Harwood]

Made you look!

 

 

Fortunately, I've never seen a set of these on an actual car. Can't even see the brake/tail lights. Yuck!

[Walt G]

My grand parents had similar ones on a 1948 Oldsmobile 98 four door sedan they bought new. In 1948 cars were so hard to come by that a lot of dealers would load them up with accessories so they could boost the price even higher since they had no car sales for the war years, and were trying to make up for lost sales. 

Hey Matt just think if you found some and put them on your 41 you would then have a place to hang the damp rags you wipe the car off with to dry out. 😂

Walt

[Matt Harwood]

I have this Ford in my showroom now and I hate the bumper guards, but since they drilled holes in the bumpers to install them there's no way to dump them. Nevertheless, I've had multiple people ask if I know where to get them. No accounting for taste sometimes, I guess...

 

  

[KongaMan]

 

3 hours ago, Matt Harwood said:

I have this Ford in my showroom now and I hate the bumper guards, but since they drilled holes in the bumpers to install them there's no way to dump them.

 

At its simplest, some chrome holes plugs might work.  They’re usually available at Lowe’s, Home Depot, etc. dirt cheap. Failing that, you could use some bumper bolts.

 

But you’re right; it looks like a shopping cart.

[Dynaflash8]

Those 1941 Buick guards are not genuine Buick accessories.  The genuine 1941 Buick accessory was a set of four bumper ends, two for each the front and rear bumper.  Collectors nicknamed them "elephant ears".  This picture was taken before my '41 was repainted, re-wired, engine and chassis detailed, all new chrome, new clutch.  In other words as I bought it with 59,000 original miles and an old chipped up lacquer paint job.

[Marty Roth]

10 hours ago, Matt Harwood said:

Made you look!

 

 

Fortunately, I've never seen a set of these on an actual car. Can't even see the brake/tail lights. Yuck!

 

Matt, if you had grown up in the 1940s and 1950s in a big city, you would have seen many of the on actual cars - and especially on cabs.

 

This style were also called "Bumper Over-riders".

They were manufactured for some aftermarket companies, such as YANKEE,

and were popular in larger cities where street parking spaces were very difficult,

and where someresidents parked "BY EAR".

I recall as a young child in Brooklyn's East New York section, watching as a neighbor "EXPANDED HIS PARKING SPOT" by using his car to push the cars ahead of, and behind where he chose to park. Initially the space was minimal, but he pushed the others just enough to force his car in for a space at the curb. He didn't even lve on our side of the street!

 

These were also used extenssively on Taxicabs in NYC, and I also recall seeing them on my mother's Uncle Sammy's 1950 Dodge. It was a "plain-Jane" beige 4-door sedan with blackwall tires. Sometime around the late 1950s his family moved from The Bronx to Fairlawn, NJ, and he had it painted bright red with a white roof and got a set of whitewall tires and full wheelcovers, but still kept the "Taxicab Overriders".

Edited May 26, 2019 by Marty Roth (see edit history)

[60FlatTop]

My Uncle Eddie, some called him Mister 5 by 5, used to be pretty good at bouncing on bumpers to get them unhooked. That was my first thought.

 

Lucky for us there weren't a lot of those accessories around, we would have missed the entertainment.

 

[old-tank]

2 hours ago, Marty Roth said:

 

Matt, if you had grown up in the 1940s and 1950s in a big city, you would have seen many of the on actual cars - and especially on cabs.

 

This style were also called "Bumper Over-riders".

They were manufactured for some aftermarket companies, such as YANKEE,

and were popular in larger cities where street parking spaces were very difficult,

and where someresidents parked "BY EAR".

I recall as a young child in Brooklyn's East New York section, watching as a neighbor "EXPANDED HIS PARKING SPOT" by using his car to push the cars ahead of, and behind where he chose to park. Initially the space was minimal, but he pushed the others just enough to force his car in for a space at the curb. He didn't even lve on our side of the street!

 

These were also used extenssively on Taxicabs in NYC, and I also recall seeing them on my mother's Uncle Sammy's 1950 Dodge. It was a "plain-Jane" beige 4-door sedan with blackwall tires. Sometime around the late 1950s his family moved from The Bronx to Fairlawn, NJ, and he had it painted bright red with a white roof and got a set of whitewall tires and full wheelcovers, but still kept the "Taxicab Overriders".

My first impression was "brush guards" as used on pickup trucks.

parked "BY EAR":  nearly all original bumpers from that era show signs of that.

[60FlatTop]

4 hours ago, old-tank said:

My first impression was "brush guards" as used on pickup trucks.

 

Deer guards in these parts. And you do get tempted by the zero turn Deere drivers heading toward the road.

[FLYER15015]

21 hours ago, 60FlatTop said:

 

Deer guards in these parts. And you do get tempted by the zero turn Deere drivers heading toward the road.

 

Out west we call them "Bamby Busters" and ALL the trucks have them.

#1 for insurance claims in Colorado, and well ahead of driving "high", but they are catching up fast.

 

Mike in Colorado

Fast becoming California.