S1/Pre facelift spyder bumpers-Hard to find?

[droptop]

I'm going to need a pair of bumpers for my '78 spyder some time in the next few months as since polishing mine, I've come to notice how many little dings and dents are in them and also some of the rubber strip on the front one is starting to come away from the steel dur to corrosion in the fasteners.
The rear one has a slight twist in it with one end pointing down while the other end sits properly.
What are my chances of finding a really good pair without having to take out a mortgage?

[MattNoVAT]

I think you'll find this a challenge Frank

[rossocorsa]

Front is same as coupe so not too difficult rear its another story, might be worth checking if there is anywhere you can get yours straightened and repolished

[peteracs]

Hi All

I must have missed this one, but what is the difference between the pre and post s2 f/l bumpers?

Peter

[droptop]

Not sure if there is a difference but I'm just being specific here as I have several coupe bumpers which are larger and heavier than mine and appear to be chromed rather than simply polished.
As regards getting mine refurbished, the damaged areas, though small have a series of small dimples and humps like they got dented and someone tried a repair with a ball pein hammer. The largest area of damage is on the top right side of the rear bumper. Also, the rubber strips are an issue on the front bumper as the corroded fasteners cannot be removed or replaced.
I'm at a point with the car where I'm considering a total overhaul and I think it's wise to gather up all the necessary bits before stripping a still viable car and ending up with it lying unfinished while I'm searching for stuff i already know I need.

[rossocorsa]

Hi All

I must have missed this one, but what is the difference between the pre and post s2 f/l bumpers?

Peter

I think they are all the same except that early Italian market cars had the cut out in the middle of the rear bumper for the square number plate

[MattNoVAT]

Front is same as coupe so not too difficult rear its another story, might be worth checking if there is anywhere you can get yours straightened and repolished

I think this will be a challenge because finding a bumper that does not have any dents/impact marks/twisting and has all the rubber strips in place without corrosion to the fastening stud is a tough ask.  Effectively the ask here is for a A1 or A- set of 35 year old bumpers!  While I am sure there are good bumpers out there....somewhere, finding them, buying them for a reasonable price then getting them them to Eire undamaged is where the challenge lays. 

[peteracs]

Hi All

I must have missed this one, but what is the difference between the pre and post s2 f/l bumpers?

Peter

I think they are all the same except that early Italian market cars had the cut out in the middle of the rear bumper for the square number plate

Ah, glad to hear that as have a post f/l set which I am keeping as spares for my pre f/l car and could see no obvious difference.

I agree, findng anything like new condition will not be viable and if you do will most likely cost a fortune.

Peter

[droptop]

The "costing a fortune if you can find them" side of this is a bit of a problem as I don't have a spare fortune to spend on bumpers!
Beginning to think mins aren't so bad after reading these replies.
Now, while all you in-the-know folks are here, is the coupe and spyder door skin the same and could I remove the coupe ones from good doors and use them to repair my doors?
I can get coupe doors in almost perfect condition but of course the window frames are different but I'm unsure about the rest of the door.

[MattNoVAT]

I'm 99.9% sure the skins are the same for coupe, HPE and spider, it's the upper frame sections where the differences between variants lay.

Happy to be told otherwise if I have got that wrong, but am sure I read it years ago when looking at new door skin options and the bumpf said it would fit all three variants but i ended up finding two complete and mint used coupe doors.

[rossocorsa]

doors are basically all the same just the frames are different but early cars have a different style of inner skin (the part that faces inside the car) with different holes. They will still fit later cars as all the important mountings are the same (well I hope so anyway because I have two brand new doors for my volumex and both are early ones!). I don't think it would be possible to find second hand doors without at least some rust but if yours are bad there may well be better ones out there, I suspect easiest options are find new doors skins (they do turn up occasionally) or swap frames from spider doors to better coupé or hpe ones

[droptop]

Doh! Didn't think of swapping the frames. The doors offered to me are possibly the best I'll ever find as they were stripped, primed and stored many years ago or possibly never fitted at all.
The tops of mine have split at the frames and there's a lot of corrosion under the chrome weather strips which would ve very hard to repair as it seems to leave the metal too thick to allow the strip to sit back down. also the tops are in poor shape inside and the door skins don't sit properly against the metalwork.
All I need is the courage to cut the frames off my doors now and that'll be a nerve-wracking task at best.

[rossocorsa]

I've never done it myself but recall someone doing it years ago and I can't remember them saying whether it was difficult to do or not

[peteracs]

Doh! Didn't think of swapping the frames. The doors offered to me are possibly the best I'll ever find as they were stripped, primed and stored many years ago or possibly never fitted at all.
The tops of mine have split at the frames and there's a lot of corrosion under the chrome weather strips which would ve very hard to repair as it seems to leave the metal too thick to allow the strip to sit back down. also the tops are in poor shape inside and the door skins don't sit properly against the metalwork.
All I need is the courage to cut the frames off my doors now and that'll be a nerve-wracking task at best.

I would find a guy who can weld really well to do the job and make up a template so that he knows what he is aiming at, but sounds a good solution to me if the doors are in as good condition as you say.

Peter

[droptop]

Once again my thanks to all who answered my cry for help.
Some day I expect to be finished this project but as I originally never intended to do much more than drive the car for as long as it lasted in the condition I bought it in, I'm not able to predict when this moment will arrive.
It's a very enjoyable journey though

[peteracs]

Hi

I can only but agree, same position, but still enjoying it...

Peter

[WestonE]

Droptop

 I took my coupe and very early NOS doors to Classic & Custom along with various rusty Spyder doors and Rob swapped frames and or cut the existing frame section to leave me with 2 great late series Spyder doors and some scrap metal. He knew exactly how to do it and it was not expensive. I would not recommend learning on something that is now getting rare!

Eric

[droptop]

Truthfully Eric I wasn't planning on attacking them myself. it's just I find the prospect of anyone hacking them up a scary proposition as you generally get only one shot at these jobs before they end up beyond redemption.
I have a fer friends in the vintage scene who have done amazing things with bags of rust and distant memories so I will be talking to them about the operation and I would dearly love to find a set of intact top frames as a back-up so I'm not about to fire up the grinder any time soon.