Re: 1930 Front Bumper

Posted by Sherlock On 2022/3/6 21:14:31

Another bit of information for the record. Photos of 1931 840 and 845 Packards show both models having front bumper blades that curve more toward the tires - similar to the 745 bumper. (Leaving aside, that is, the '31s that were retro-fitted with an update package which included a 1932 vibration damping bumper). Although the 1931 Big 8 bumper looks nearly identical to the 745, the part number for the 1931 assembly is different than that of the 745.

Back to the question at hand, by far and away most photos of 740s show the straighter blades, but a few show an end curve like the 745, 840 and 845. That caused some confusion until I realized that a 1931 bumper assembly could easily be subbed in for a 740 assembly. The vast majority of 840 and 845 have the bolt-through style guards like the 745, but there are some that use bow tie style guards like on the 740.

To sum up, it seems a proper 740 bumper assembly uses the straighter blades together with a 3-1/2" deep bracket. 745, 840 and 845 assemblies use longer blades that curve more toward the tire and therefore would need a deeper bracket - perhaps 5" deep - to keep the ends sufficiently forward of the tires. I haven't been able to verify the hypothesized 5" bracket depth, but it is clear the longer blades will not work using the 3-1/2" deep 740 bracket as they then almost touch the tires.