Eliminate rear bumper rubber filler on a 74 Duster

Brandon Weaver said
I agree that it looks heaps better, and lighter weight is stellar!

My only concern, since I have been rear ended hard, with lots of damage to the dart, is how well will this take an impact? I know how the body crumpled on mine, how do the earlier (pre-shock absorber) cars fare in such cases? Anymore, I consider safety a lot lol.

The larger bumpers were designed in response to a new federal 5mph impact standard that took effect in 1974/75. In low speed impacts the heavy bumper and shock absorbers will fare better than the earlier bumpers, that's what they were designed to do.

But in a higher speed impact its not going to make much difference. Both early and late bumpers are still attached to the same frame rails and rear crossmember. Once the springs in the shock absorbers bottom out, everything is getting pushed into the car. With an impact under 10mph or so the amount of energy absorbed by the shock mounts is enough to make a difference. With a 30mph impact, the shock mounts are going to bottom out almost instantly and the frame rails are going to bend anyway.

I parted out a '74 Swinger that had been rear-ended at around 35mph. The bumper was a little tweaked, but it actually looked pretty good. The shock mounts were even able to unload again. Those later bumpers are bombproof. But one of the shock mounts pushed right through the rear crossmember, the entire right quarter panel buckled, and so did the right rear frame rail. Pulled a good 8 to 9" section of frame rail right off the floor pan at the spot welds. :violent1: Pushed the whole back end of the car over about 2", which was visible because the trunk lid popped open in the accident and wasn't damaged. But when you tried to close the trunk lid it was about 2" to the left from actual the trunk opening. ;)

The later shock mounted bumpers were just a band aid to get past a new standard. The actual structure of the cars wasn't redesigned, and that's where your actual safety comes from. Unless you back into a lot of parked cars or parking lot bollards, the later bumpers aren't worth their weight or appearance. The earlier bumpers won't take as much abuse themselves, but they're still bolted to the same car.