fitting the rear bumper ?

[35chevcoupe]

I,ve been looking at finished cars here on the site and other photos of 65 gran sports and it seems like the rear bumpers are closer to the tail lights in the center more so than the outer edges . Is this a common problem with these cars or do I need to do some more tweaking to my tail light panel ?

[schlepcar]

There is nothing really "straight" back there except the tail lights. Everything else has curves so the illusion you are speaking of is normal. I just put my rear bumper on by myself and it was easier than expected. I taped all the edges and put in the two forward bolts. After that it was just installing the rear two bolts and adjusting it so the outer corners of the bumper align straight with the outer quarter panel. I was scared about chipping paint,but it was very easy as long as you "center" the brackets in their slots and snug them to the bumper. I does look funny if you look at it long enough,but a lot of girls are like that.

[35chevcoupe]

Thanks Dan ,   I,ll just proceed with caution when welding everything up then . I don,t really want to start pulling on the rear tail light panel just to make the bumper fit better and then not have the trunk lid not fit right .

[schlepcar]

Was I assuming the deck lid was already on? Don't listen to what I said if you are assuming it will just fit because it may not fit so good after welding on the pans. Make sure the deck is properly aligned before welding everything up tight. As long as it is looking good all the way around,the bumper will be fine.

[35chevcoupe]

Dan ,
I just have the pan tacked in for now , but I think your right I better wait till the trunk lid comes back from media blast before I do anymore welding .
The quarters and tail light panel move around pretty easy when theres now trunk pan in there .
I was test fitting the bumper yesterday and it just seems like the gap is closer in the middle of the bumper than it is on the ends . by that I mean up and down not in or out .
quote
I does look funny if you look at it long enough,but a lot of girls are like that.
LOL ,  my wife is already getting jealous . She thinks I spend more time with the car than I do with her 

[35chevcoupe]

Thought I would post this just in case anyone else has this problem with trying to make their rear bumper fit good with the gaps somewhat close .
While I was replacing the trunk pan in my car I was struggling trying to get the rear bumper gaps to look decent . I thought my tail light panel got tweaked out of adjustment but couldn,t really see how or where . So after sending some photos back and forth with Mark Ascher of our bumpers he suggested I pick up and try an extra core that he had at his place .  So I picked it up today and WOW  what a difference , it is darn close to fitting perfect .
So Then I knew it was my freshly rechromed bumper that was out of whack .
I called ( Northstar plating ) which is now Keystone and talked to them about it and was pretty surprised at their response , they said if it didn,t fit right that they would take care of it 100% . They were even going to send UPS truck out to get it .  I told them that I would bring it up there and she said to bring  photos of how it fit and they take care of it .
Thats pretty good customer service if you ask me . I was impressed .

[elagache]

Dear John and mid-60s Buick types who like things when they fit,

While I was replacing the trunk pan in my car I was struggling trying to get the rear bumper gaps to look decent .
. . . 

So Then I knew it was my freshly rechromed bumper that was out of whack .

. . . .

I called ( Northstar plating ) which is now Keystone and talked to them about it and was pretty surprised at their response , they said if it didn,t fit right that they would take care of it 100% . They were even going to send UPS truck out to get it .  I told them that I would bring it up there and she said to bring  photos of how it fit and they take care of it .
Thats pretty good customer service if you ask me . I was impressed .

Definitely a interesting problem and I'm glad that Mark was able to provide a bumper that allowed you to figure out that yours was out of whack.  That's really great that Keystone was willing to go the distance to make this bumper right.  It sure is wonderful that some companies will stand behind their work 100%! 

Thanks for sharing!

Cheers, Edouard