Sometimes it's hard to come up with a cool part for a car that is iconic like the '57 Chevy. Everyone is so familiar with how it's "supposed" to look that any deviation can backfire. But sometimes a product comes out that does change the look, but in a good way. The product we are talking about in this story is the new one-piece smoothie-style bumper and grille insert from Danchuk. Here is the tweak that Danchuk spent a few years developing. It's a completely smooth one-piece bumper and new grille that once installed really gives the '57 a different look. The redesigned bumper not only features no seams or exposed bolts, it also deletes the bullets from the front end. Since the bullets are removed the grille insert needed to be extended to fill the area usually covered by them. The new grille inserts are offered in either silver or gold.Here is the tweak that Danchuk spent a few years developing. It's a completely smooth one- Steve Brown, general manager of Danchuk, says, "As the demand for hot rod and retro rod parts increases, it helps us to justify large and expensive projects like this one. We spent almost two years between the design, tooling and production of this work of art and we couldn't be happier. We use top quality steel and the best American chrome plating money can buy." The bumper and grille are designed to bolt right onto the car with minor modifications to the bumper brackets. When we got wind the first bumper was fresh out of the chrome shop, we just had to get it on a car to see how it looked. We went over to Danchuk's facility in Santa Ana, California, and had them toss one on the company's red '57 Bel Air that we tested way back in '08 (check out www.superchevy.com for the story). The car is still very clean considering it gets driven daily. Our workers for the install are Pete Adame, 1st article technician, and Lawrence Kelly, design engineer. These two guys had the bumper swapped out in under an hour with no air tools so it should be no problem to do it at home. Here is the oh-so-familiar '57 front end. This car already has the cleaner, one-piece bumper instead of the multi-piece unit found on non-California cars. While not a bad looking factory design at all, there can always be tweaks made to change it up.Here is the oh-so-familiar '57 front end. This car already has the cleaner, one-piece bump Obviously, before we can get the smoothie bumper on, the stock stuff needs to come off. First thing in that process are the bullets, which are Danchuk's chrome versions. On this car they just screw off, which then frees the larger rear piece.Obviously, before we can get the smoothie bumper on, the stock stuff needs to come off. Fi Here is what the bullet area looks like once it's off. Now you can see why Danchuk needed to make a new grille insert to fill the void left when the bullets come off. You can also see the flat area, where the bullet mounts to the bumper, which had to be redesigned in the new bumper.Here is what the bullet area looks like once it's off. Now you can see why Danchuk needed 1 | 2 | » | View Full Article By Calin Head Enjoyed this Post? Subscribe to our RSS Feed, or use your favorite social media to recommend us to friends and colleagues!
