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Fri Aug 21, 2020 3:48 am

Has anyone put overhang bumpers on a late model beetle? I would like to see pictures because the early bumpers have upper supports and the late models do not have holes ready for them. The aftermarket brackets don't mention anything and also don't come with the upper supports.

Can you put an early bumper on a late model without the upper supports?

Fri Aug 21, 2020 6:14 am

You can, but frankly it looks really weird, and the bumper sits really weird on the car unless you make your own brackets, and use early fenders.

Fri Aug 21, 2020 7:56 am

First thing you need to understand is that the '67-earlier front bumper brackets run thru the front apron and not the fenders like the '68-later Beetles.

This means you have three mounting options:
1) Custom brackets that fit through the '68-later fender openings, but mount to the early style bumpers. These are the easiest because no changes to the '68-later body are needed.
https://www2.cip1.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=C13%2D15%2D2045
Here is what it looks like on a '71 SB... https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=270889

Here it is with the Euro front bumper:

2) Custom brackets that attach to '68-later body but loop under the fender/apron so no holes are needed in the body work. These are typically used when you run '67-earlier fenders (no bracket holes) and a '68-later front apron (no bracket holes). This option has you replace the fenders with early style fenders... or fill in your '68-later fender holes to make the car look something like an earlier Beetle.
https://www2.cip1.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=C31%2D707%2D135%2D067%2DPR

3) (most work) Replace the front fenders and front apron with '67-earlier ones so you have slots in the front apron. Customize the mounts inside the tire well area to allow attachment of the original bumper brackets. You basically rebuild the front end of your car making it a '67-early front end with early bumpers. You can choose to keep or delete the over rider brackets.
The question you need to answer is which of the above options are you interested in doing?

#1 & #2 above are usually run with the single Euro blade and no overrider tubes so the overrider supports are not needed. The 3rd option allows you to add holes for the over rider tubes. I suppose you could work out a custom bent overrider tube bracket that fastened to the fender mount point on later Beetles, but it would probably look odd.
Or, like the SB pic above, run the over riders w/o the support tubes, but I wonder if the overrider tubes are wobbly or you run the risk of bending the bumper or tubes when you accidentally apply pressure on the overriders?

Fri Aug 21, 2020 8:43 am

I found a company that makes custom stainless bumpers. They were able to stretch them to perfectly match the widened fenders I had front and rear. I requested them to not drill the mounting holes, used the conversion brackets they offer on CP1 I think....and drilled my own to fit. Worked perfectly.

Fri Aug 21, 2020 8:49 am

You can run early overrider bumpers without the supports.
I used the first set of conversion brackets ashman linked, you'll need both front and rear sets.

They work fine, no wobble.
One of my blades is original VW, the other a hefty aftermarket. Both thick metal, and the conversion brackets are actually really decent.
I can lift the front of my bug by the overrider, but wouldn't suggest going ham on them. The bolts are the weak points, probably snap the heads off before the bumpers or brackets bend.
They'll offer zero protection in an impact, but in any incident at speeds greater than 5mph the bug bumpers don't do a whole lot anyways.

Using the conversion brackets means you can always swap back on your original bumpers, and if this is for the bug in your gallery please keep those bumpers (assuming they're original), even if they are a little freckly.
Nice looking bug -- even has an intact horn ring and original radio.

wolfsburgwest makes their own decent, reasonably priced bumpers if needed.
Avoid the super cheapies, their 'chrome' plating wont last.