Bumper brackets

[H2OSB]

This will be an out of the ordinary question that can only apply to a very small group so speculation is ok.

A few years ago my son was driving my '73 Super Beetle when a car turned right in front of him. He got on the brakes hard but still impacted the other car at about 5mph. The other car was undamaged but the Beetle suffered a crease in the hood and a crumpled drivers side fender and ruined front valance.

Since I also own a '74 Super, I happened to have a hood and 4 original fenders on hand. Now, at the time it seemed only logical to just use the items on hand. I asked the other driver for $1000 for parts and agreed to keep it out of the hands of her insurance company. That way, I only had to purchase a front valance(I didn't tell her I had the hood and fenders already). It seemed like a great idea at the time until I decided I wanted to put bumpers back on the car.

So now the car is all fixed up, is repainted and looks good. I have a a set of those "D" hole bumper bracket gromets, and a factory front bumper. What I don't know is if I use the stock '73 front bumper brackets or if I need those ones that are used with the 68-73 Euro bumpers with the turn signals in them. The car did not have a front bumper when we bought it so I'd need to buy whichever is required. I'm thinking the factory style 73 brackets would work fine.

H2OSB
_________________
(o\_i_/o) I'm not a vegetarian because I love animals, I'm a vegetarian because I hate plants.

[beetlenut]

I don't see why the stock 73 front bumper brackets would not work on the new factory front bumper. At worst you might have to drill new holes on the factory front bumper if the stock brackets don't line up with the existing holes in the factory front bumper, if they even have them drilled. I mounted 74 bumpers on the stock 73 front bumper brackets with minimal drilling. If you're running the rubber impact strip on the bumper, it should hide any mounting holes, stock or otherwise.
_________________
scrapyards are for quitters
---------------------------------------

[H2OSB]

I can't quite tell if they're 74 or 73 bumpers. They seem huge to me. The car had an 80s paint job when we got it. It did have a rear bumper on factory 73 brackets but the front had custom T-bars that made the front of the car appear fish-like. Anyway, the front bumper I have is the same size, but in front bumper form, as the rear, so I assume they're both 68-73 US spec factory bumpers. They're not light weight like the bumpers into which turn signals can be installed.

All the same, thank you for the assistance.

H2OSB
_________________
(o\_i_/o) I'm not a vegetarian because I love animals, I'm a vegetarian because I hate plants.

[beetlenut]

The 73 and 74 bumpers for the supers looked pretty similar. Here's my 74 front mounted on the 73 straight bumper mounts.

You're right, the original bumpers are not light, but they look pretty good when you have that black rubber impact strip to break up the size of the bumper.
_________________
scrapyards are for quitters
---------------------------------------