The Rubber Bumper Epidemic of the 1970s

In the 1970s safety and emissions regulations forced many of the biggest sports car manufacturers to add rubber bumpers to their cars. It wasn't always a good thing

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Disclaimer
Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing."

[tehpanda]

Call me crazy, I think they are an attractive and iconic look. They look so utilitarian and practical, it is like if you don't have a proud bumper; that vehicle appears to be missing something.

[travisolson]

I actually liked them. You never know when your drunk dad was going to push your car off the driveway at 2am in the morning or just hit your car at any random time.

[kilroywashere]

I personally like the look of defined bumpers versus the bull shit we have now

[geraldscott]

I am not generally a fan of rubber (or actually urethane) covered bumpers. But there are a few notable exceptions, and one of them is the 1974-1977 Corvette. Those are my favorite years of the Corvette, because of the urethane bumper covers and the flat back window. I have owned a white 1976 Corvette for almost 35 years. Most purists want the chrome bumpers, but to me, the new body colored bumper covers actually made the Corvette look like it didn't have any bumpers, and the shape of the covers was the finishing touch to the Corvettes styling. They were properly shaped, and didn't stick out like they did on most cars.

[lancraft]

Many of the rubber bumpers looked just fine and even quite modern for the time. The advantage was you could make contact all the time, Like during parking, with zero damage.

Likely the first bumper that looked like part of the car was the tailcone of the Porsche 928. That was considered revolutionary for its day. The actual bumper was hidden underneath the composite bodywork.

[johngeren]

I took the bumpers off of my beloved Alfetta and weighed them. The front was 89 pounds and the resr was 94.

Then, I simply cut through the rubber on the rear faces between the mounting points and peeled the rubber away from the incredibly heavy steel girders within. I was left with very light and noodly rubber shells for which I had to fabricate new mounts and lightwright stiffening skeletons.

The result was a faster accelerating, better braking and much better handling Alfetta - the most fun to drive car I ever owned or drove.

[davebarron]

One addition, it was Insurance companies that "pushed" for the 5MPH requirements.

[joparicutin]

I would like to have rubber bumpers in my car and that other cars had them too. It would save a lot of money for everyone.

[wilsonb]

One side effect you did not cover: in order to let the bumper (especially the shock absorber type you did not mention - see Fords and VWs) prevent major damage, manufacturers had to stiffen and reinforce the frames where they attached. In the short run this made cars MORE dangerous for occupants as only part of the car structure was addressed. In the long run manufacturers learned what performance car builders had known for some time - a stiffer structure gives a better more controlled driving experience.

[brentjohnson]

They may not have been pretty but I had someone in a late model ford fusion back into my 280z and her trunk was absolutely mangled and mine didn't have a scratch. Pretty happy with the crash bumpers!

[Quet]

Absolutely love the crazy rubber bumpers on the TR6

[henrywhyte]

Hi Bart, I'm glad you're covering so many interesting topics. My grandad always wanted one of those rubber bumper MGs back in the day.

[hooontaaah]

I know this is mostly talking about sports cars, but I'm surprised to see no mention of the Volvo Experimental Safety Car and it's impact on what regulators thought safety meant. the VESC is the patriarch of big rubber bumpers, and I love it for that.

[flynnoconnor]

Cars nowadays are justing getting bigger and bigger because if you’ve got the biggest car on the road your the safest but also your the biggest danger to others… others buy your bigger car and then you don’t feel safe so you buy a BIGGER car so on and so forth. It’s very sad

[Hanstra]

Personally, I'm completely ready for chonky bumpers to make a comeback. They're called BUMPERS, dangit, they're SUPPOSED to be good at bumping into things!

[mgguyvintagevehicles]

I have a 1974.5 MGB roadster, the last version that had the twin SU carbs but the first version with the rubber bumper (built between September and December 1974, badged as a 1975 officially.) I was more concerned about getting the twin carbs than the bumpers, and to be honest I bought it to drive, not to impress others. I don't see the bumpers when I'm driving it! I will admit the chrome bumper looks better, but it really doesn't matter to me. It's fun to drive!

[randybailey]

You are right, the rubber baby buggy bumpers really did change the look of the automobile. It was part of an evolution the car need to into the future of design.

[alexandergustafsson]

@3:57 that gave me a much needed laugh as I have been home sick for 5 days now. Thank you so much for that

[MikeSamuelsII-vegp]

The worst of these bumpers were put on MGs and Triumphs. Not only did they add weight, they also had to change the ride height and messed up their handling. On the other hand, I liked to ones on my Porsche 914. They actually were tough as hell and helped the car survive all of the parallel parking I had to do in DC back in the 80's.

[teamracing]

A really nice video on the subject. Especially for someone that didn't live thru it you did a good job.
The only thing you could have added was the bumpers between the chrome era and the full rubber. Cars like the 74 MGB and Midget with the big square rubber pads.