Rear bumper delete

[Dantigan]

I do not like the appearence of the rear bumpers on the first gen f-bodies. In my build for my 69 Firebird I am planning to go completely without a rear bumper and do some metal fab to smooth the rear panel. I have seen a lot of 1st gens that have shortened and even inset the bumpers which look awesome, but for the life of me I can not find any with just the rolled pan and no bumper. Am I missing something is there a reason I should have a bumper. Looking at the structure and the mounting of the bumper I dont think it really adds a tremendous amount of protection, but I am no structural engineer. If anyone knows of any builds without a rear bumper I would love to see them. I would also like any input on why I should keep a rear bumper. Thanks for the input guys.

[DirtShark]

??? If you are going to drive it, I would want all the protection I could get for the fuel tank. I know personally I would never go without the rear bumper. Look at some of the build threads on the site, there are plenty of ways to make the rear bumper look much better then stock.

[Dantigan]

??? If you are going to drive it, I would want all the protection I could get for the fuel tank. I know personally I would never go without the rear bumper. Look at some of the build threads on the site, there are plenty of ways to make the rear bumper look much better then stock.

You almost had me rethinking it...then I found this car:

http://www.fametattoos.com/#!__mr-gl1-res

[TheJDMan]

I would agree with you about the front bumper delete on a 1st gen but not the rear bumper. IMO the rear bumper delete would look odd at best.

[HotRod47]

You almost had me rethinking it...then I found this car:

http://www.fametattoos.com/#!__mr-gl1-res

Yeah, that doesn't look right at all.