mk1-forum.net

Hi all,

Sorting out what bumpers I want to use for my project. Is the below one genuine?


Thanks in a advance

From the photos, it looks totally original for a Mk1 and most Mk2s

That was an interesting observation Herlufsholm (strange moniker.....) I had a brand new VERY late December Mk2 and that had 3 bumper bolts when I was expecting the usual 5 bolts. The strange bit was that there were 5 holes IN the bumpers but only 3 bolts staked in place.

Might this be the change-over period. Anyone.....?

hi peter
maybe a late pm friday car and in a rush to get out of there or early monday am car and still a bit groggy from a lost weekend cheers roger

The change was probably as a result of a cost reduction idea from a production line worker, who were encouraged to submit improvement ideas into the factory 'Suggestions Scheme' and get a reward payment if it was implemented based on any future cost savings.
I expect someone bolting on those bumpers every day on the production line (or a Production Engineer) noticed that 3 bolts secured the bumper with no problem and the extra 2-off bolts just took more time for the line worker to fit and used thousands more unnecessary studs, washers and nuts in each production run. (ie. 4-off fixings saved on several million Minis all adds up in time and money!)

They never would have thought that in future years, some of us 'purist anoraks' would be going to great efforts to ensure our early Minis had 5-bolt bumpers, even though no 'normal' person would ever see, notice or care!

I must be an “purist anorak” !
Whenever I see a Mk1 S with a shiny bumper I always check for the 5 bolts!
I would like mine to be shiny (like new) but am very satisfied with my original 5-bolt bumpers.
Shiny chrome sure does look nice though!

Merry Christmas everyone.
With regard to front and rear bumper refurbishment, can anyone recommend a chrome finisher in the Manchester area?

Looks original from what I can see. Are the five threaded studs firmly attached to the bumper? The four little corners on the inside, the threaded side of the studs, should be crimped on to the bumper. They must have used a special crimping tool to fix them in place. I guess it was done as a way to speed up assembly. Some people think they get rusted on, they don't, they were made that way.

You can still get the correct threaded studs but without the tool, you can't crimp them on to the bumper. It really doesn't matter for us as when the nuts are tightened, the studs and bumper aren't going anywhere and you can't tell if the studs are attached or not of course. It's a fiddle to fit the bumper and when you do it makes you realise how quick and easy it would be if those studs were firmly fixed to the bumper.

Steve