Will we ever see chrome bumpers again?

Some pickup trucks today still come with chrome bumpers. They can look good on any car if designed into the body correctly. I think one day, yes, you will see an automaker take a daring leap and have the nerve to come out with chrome bumpers. It will be seen as radical.

 

All depends on if a "retro" looks is popular again.

 

Just wondering how expensive that would be to provide in todays market as a standard item. As an option........yeah I can see that happening some day. Personally I think I would order it depending on the car, the look and the price.

 

I must say I really enjoyed the chrome bumpers on my last 4Runner. After 15 years they still looked OK.

These new plastic bumpers already look like crap after 5 years on my current 4Runner. Cannot even take a little bump like the old chromies could. Plastic bends, paint flakes, can't even repair.

But as to a return to the little corner touch pads that came on say the Dino. No there can never be a return until the *gov gets rid of a bunch of regulations.

 

I think that chrome bumpers would look a bit out of place on a modern car, if for no other reason because they were phased out so long ago. I agree with SrfCity that they could make a comeback if a manufacturer were intentionally going for a retro look. Then again, a lot of the recent retro cars still go sans chrome bumpers (Thunderbird, Challenger, Fiat 500, etc.).

 

A little off-topic, but, around the same time, cars went from always, always having chrome trim around the windows to not -- just something that I always notice on the older cars.

 

Give it a few years, and the 1960s and earlier cars will be in huge demand.

Tire pressure monitors, "nanny" boxes in the EMU, two tons of padding, etc., and modern cars won't be worth spit.

The only cars still running will be the old classics ---
--- the ones you could fix yourself, and that had wiring diagrams the Feds didn't prohibit.

 

Yes.

When cars have 20 HP, weigh 1,500 lbs and have a max speed of 45 MPH.

This is the car of the future.






























A Model T.

 

Oh but they are already. Take American muscle, for example. Those cars are on fire. Just watch Barrett Jackson. It's fellas buying their high school dream cars. Same reason I want to get a 328.

 

Beyond the stylistic whims of the designers, about 20 years ago or so, chrome / nickel plating began to become very expensive --- both with the EPA restrictions on the process and the raw materials themselves. Today, the EPA restrictions are nearly prohibitive for most vendors and the materials are near all-time highs in price.

So, regardless of what the designers or the public wants, I'd be surprised if we ever see it come back to the automobile in any substantial amount.

But, hey if you really dig chrome ---- you can always buy a new Harley

 

I agree, but chrome bumpers aren't the whole story. The stylistic direction now is to make the headlamps look "fierce" and tech-y, and color-blend everything, including side mirrors, door handles, etc. There was a balance on the classics between the delicate chrome details and the painted bodywork. That's now a lost art.

 

Outstanding question!

I'd say yes, definitely, because style trends are almost always cyclical. There will be a time and a place when chrome bumpers look "right." It may be a stylistic detail that pays homage to the classic era or it might be an original application.

All I know is that some stylist will find a design solution that includes them, at some point.

 

I'm sure they'll come back on some models, but the question is when?

 

Chrome metal bumpers won't pass U.S. Regulations for impact on cars. So unless someone comes up with plastic chrome it's never happening.

 

???

 

I would LOVE to see chrome again... chrome bumpers would rock.

Cars look like giant pieces of plastic today. I hate it.

 

Thats so very 1980

 

Yep. I cant stand modern auto design. The new Camaro is to me, one of the very worst offenders of looking like a preschoolers toy.

 

But sadly very true. The bumpers on all cars (not pick-ups or truck based SUV's) have to be able to bump into a solid object at no less than 2.5mph and recieve no damage. Most automobile companys certify them at no less than 5mph. It is listed on every new car window sticker in the country. Sorry guys just the facts.

 

My point was plastic chrome has existed for decades...

 

What does the plating process on a bumper have to do with its impact ability? You can make the bumper as strong as you want, as thick as you want, stick out as far as you want and mount it to shock absorbing devices behind the bumper. Then you will have a "chrome" bumper that is good for 2.5mph or 5 mph or whatever you want to engineer.

You could easily take a present day bumper, remove the plastic bumper cover and replace it with some thin, chromed sheet metal that wraps around the real bumper mechanism just like the plastic cover did.

It's a matter of styling/trends.... not technology or regulations.

 

I think the designers are looking over each other's shoulders .... or at each other's aero simulations.

I was looking at a line of cars parked at the curb, the other day. There was a Honda, a BMW, and a Lexus. From the side, they all looked alike. A Mercedes pulled up, and that looked the same from the side, too, aside from a somewhat more squared off hood.

The really sad part are the utterly square boxes, just to be different from every other look-alike vehicle on the roads.
Except that all the square boxes look alike, too.

I guess automotive "design", these days, consists of making the grills look different.

 

Chrome is too expensive to mass produce these days. It takes a lot of nickle for the process, and doing away with hood ornaments, steering wheel rings, mascots, side markers and bumpers saved lots of dough.