[Lokki]

Like many 71 Spiders, some time in the past 40 years, the nose of my car was bumped and repaired. The original bumpers were replaced with bumpers from a 74 Spider, including the Dagmars. For the younger crowd here, I'll call them bumperettes.

I've finally managed to locate some rubber bumper covers from a 71 (they don't have holes to accommodate the mounting of the bumperettes like the 74 covers do) and today I finally got a chance to pull the front bumpers off the car with the intent of making the swap.

I discovered that the infamous P.O. had jury-rigged some front bumper mounts out of angle iron, half-*** welding on some tabs to them so as to mount the bumperettes. (in the picture below, I've already removed them). The bolts in these slip into the slots in the frame, and the bumpers are then mounted to the angle iron .

I believe that the nose of the car was modified too with the addition of some tabs welded to the underside of the skin, but I can't find any pictures anywhere to determine whether these are, in fact, a modification or original. Unlike the tabs on the angle-iron mounts these are very nicely welded on, so I can't make a judgement based on that.

The sheet metal screws in the tabs are pretty clearly a give-way though, as no self-respecting Italian designer would do something that simple.

However, that raises the question of what the heck the actual mounts should look like. Here's what I have to work with now.

Do I need to call APE and buy something? What?

Thanks guys!

 

[howndog]

I have those same tabs welded to the nose. They are original(no screws though)
The u shaped slots there should have a bolt that slips in and screws to the bumper mount
(the mount looks like a z shaped ,its thin metal and runs the length of the bumper). I wish I had a pick because its hard to describe. Ill see what I can dig up .BTW your mounts look fine
Heres a pic I found to give u some idea.Its the underside of the drivers side bumper

 

[Lokki]

Thanks Howndog!

That's exactly what I needed to know. I'd never seen those nose tabs in any pictures anywhere before and they had me thrown for a loop. So I really appreciate your picture. It clears everything up for me. Now that I know what I'm asking for I can call APE and get a set of the brackets (probably!).

I wonder if the nose tabs are something that Alfa only used for a year or two? I'm also struck with how delicate the 'bumpers' really are. They're really a plastic molding to hold the turn signal with a rubber facing over the front and a thin stainless sheet over the top.

They're purely a styling element - beautiful, I think, but not even as strong as the sheet metal in the body. Ah well, they look great and sure don't add any unnecessary weight to the nose!