Wanted - overriders bumper bars

Just the vertical over riders  or towel bars too ?

Yes bumper bars front and rear

JNAKOTA O, real overrider bars are hard to find and as far as I know, there are no more aftermarket bars to fit our cars as the man who made them, Bob Chase-Grey Eagle, sadly passed last year. http://www.greyeagleoverriderbars.com/

He was going to make me a set but finances held me off and then it was too late.

I keep looking, but the stock bars won't fit without modifications which Bob could do and I can't. I've even considered making a set using soft copper pipe but haven't. Maybe someone will pick up Bob's torch one day but it's doubtful.

Will

I have not done this but if I were to fabricate my own bars I would start with 1" PVC pipe as it would be easy to shape and cheap as it will take a number of attempts to get a good template.

I suspect the only way to do this well would be to make a prototype out of something-- soft copper makes the most sense, then make a buck so that a steel tube could be bent to be identical. That'd mean the buck would have to fit the original prototype perfectly, and whatever you made with steel would have to as well.

If this were in one plane, it would be hard. The fact that it's a compound curve makes it diabolical.

I wonder where and from who the builders are buying or either fabricating the bars. 

Who makes the vertical bars ? (not the towel racks) Are they made of aluminum ? A casting ? what do they cost ?.....Bruce

The two sets bumper guards I got from Greg at Vintage Motorcars were nice castings....I'm not sure but  think they were bit north of $300 for all.

I contacted Intermeccanica about a set but said doesn't  sell them as parts 

aircooled posted:

Who makes the vertical bars ? (not the towel racks) Are they made of aluminum ? A casting ? what do they cost ?.....Bruce

Yes, they are/were cast aluminum then polished. As Alan pointed out they are $150 a pair now from Vintage Motor cars.  Vintage Speedster Parts will sell you a left one for only $185! - they other side isn't listed so may be a typo.  It does say they are made in USA?  (Their prices have recently doubled plus shipping is now a fixed $25).  Carey did say he stopped buying them from VSP since many were pitted with air pockets and could not be polished up.  Note these are the std low over riders and not for the towel bars.

http://vintagespeedsterparts.c...perguardright-1.aspx

I think IM has a source that custom makes them for them, and I understand that might be a trade secret  

My bet is that even Intermecchanica can't get 'em. Bob was the only guy in the world (that I'm aware of) who made them. The bars for our cars have to be bent differently than the stock P-cars as our bumpers are narrower in cross-section than stock bumpers (our bumpers are lighter, cheaper and look better, I think).

I have a set of 4 bumperettes made for the low bars. sometime in '56 or '57 Porsche started making the bumperettes and the overrider bars higher and went from the one-piece rear overrider to 2 pieces, mainly for license plate visibility (front and rear). But even the bumperettes for overriders have to be customized, as the cross-section of the stock bumpers is higher than ours, they have to be custom-fitted to our bumpers which involves welding more material in places and removing some in others. It all adds up to a monumental amount of work. Honestly, it would probably be cheaper to purchase stock P-car bumpers and watch the Samba or 356 Registry for a set and have the bumpers painted to match your car than trying to find the overrider bars to fit our cars.

Here's examples (front and rear) of the low bars, they're about an inch less than the later/higher bars and (I think) look super cool. Typical of Porsche back then, some cars had the shine-down light with one piece rear bars and some had the shine-down license light with the 2 piece rear bars, such was Germany post-war production. 

Check Rich Drewek's  custom cast ones for his Beck. Maybe he has the molds.

Rich's I don't think wer any taller than stock - only they didn't have the knotch out for the bumpers.  I wonder how old Ghia or <57 bug would work?

Thanks guys for all the wonderful ideals and answers ,I have a friend that is going to help me make a pair so maybe in the future we might have some clear answers for speedster owners who wants to buy towel bars

Thanks Joseph

Try these guys...

http://www.greyeagleoverriderbars.com/about.html

We are working on a kit for the over rider bars now. I hope to have a complete kit by the end of this summer. 

Greg

Well, now there you go, and from a trusted source!

hotrodstitcher posted:

Try these guys...

http://www.greyeagleoverriderbars.com/about.html

Per an earlier comment Bob Chase passed away. 

I can confirm that Henry is not offering these anymore. When I built my car with him in 2016/17 it was one of the options I wanted.

He had told me his supplier was sick and not making them anymore. 

I would check with Carey Hines,because I know he just did a set for Joe Fortino's car and they look beautiful.

Yes Tom is right I think his supplier semi resurrected and supplied one more set when I was building mine then was AWOL. 

I wondered the same thing as Wolfgang. The VW overiders look pretty close except for the curves at the end. I wonder if a set of those could be modified. Also electrical conduit can be easily bent cold with sand in the tubes, hummm?

Since our bumpers are fiberglass, could someone make molds to create the towel bars in FG and then apply a stainless steel or chrome wrap?  Just adding my 1/2 cent...

Anything is possible Jim, in any case that would all crumple in any fender bender.  

There is aluminum tubing that could be polished like the stock bumper over-riders as well as bendable stainless steel tubing used for marine applications.  Its used for grab rails, bimini top frames and bow pulpits. It can easily be bent. I'm guessing 5/8" would be best?

https://www.mscdirect.com/product/details/32000853

Safety Jim Buffalo NY. posted:

Since our bumpers are fiberglass, could someone make molds to create the towel bars in FG and then apply a stainless steel or chrome wrap?  Just adding my 1/2 cent...

 

I was thinking about it, and yes you could absolutely do it , and lay a reinforcement in the finished product.  If you wanted to paint the overider bars black or body colour even easier. 

How about clear acrylic bars ? Or colored ones ?.........Bruce

Talking with someone that does dirt track chassis roll bar fabrications  ..Jim suggested the grey electrical plastic conduit as it is easy to heat and bend and once cooled it stays in that configuration for a template. The ideal method would be to copy the towel bars from a car then adjust accordingly for the slightly lower VMC bumper over riders.

aircooled posted:

How about clear acrylic bars ? Or colored ones ?.........Bruce

You could always put in an LED strip and go crazy