1958-1960 conny kit question

[63-4drpost]

I was looking at a video of a 1960 T-Bird TV ad. It showed a 1960 T-Bird ragtop with a continental kit. It was hard to tell for sure, but it looked like the inner top rear bumper "bullets" were removed to clear the cont kit. Is that true? Thanks

[Guest]

Hey Henry,
Google 1960 Thunderbirds with continental kit. Look at pic's!
Here are two, they "bullets" have been removed! See we learned something today
Richard D. Hord

[YellowRose]

1958-1960 conny kit question

Often the bullets were not removed, but in many cases, several inches of the bullet tips were cut off so that the continental kit would fit properly.

[Guest]

Hi guys

So, as a matter of interest, how are the bullet tips attached? Why would they be cut off rather than simply removed? Was this a dealer fitted option?

Mark

[YellowRose]

1958-1960 conny kit question

As I recall, those bullet tips are bolted on. From what I have read in the past, some, instead of taking them off, cut off several inches of the tip, or whatever it took, to clear the back of the tire carrier. The continental kit was often a dealer or aftermarket item, is my understanding.

[Howard Prout]

The "bullet tips" are something like 8" long and bolt to the bumper. The spare wheel mounting bracket and bumper extension do not extend far enough out from the bumper to keep the bullet tips as is. Therefore about 3" has to be removed from the end of the bullet tips to allow the spare tire to fit inside the bumper extension and the spare wheel to bolt to the mounting bracket. I had a machine shop cut off the amount suggested in the instructions that came with my kit from Continental Enterprises. Even so, it is a tight fit - in fact I used a smaller tire to facilitate the installation. The attached photos show how it fits on my 1959.

It is my understanding that some owners have not wanted to disfigure their bullet tips so extended the mounting bracket and increased the set-out of the bumper extension by the amount needed to clear the bullet tips. This makes for a very long set out from the rear bumper.

[Alan H. Tast, AIA]

The installation instruction sheet that came with the factory kit did have instructions on how much of the bullets to cut off before installing the brackets and bumper horseshoe. Oddly, though, no plugs were provided to fill the opening in the bullets - the designers/engineers relied on the tire/cover to hide them. "Fuz" Johnson can provide more info on this once he's in a place to comment.

[tmjsong1aolcom]

I have taken a pic of the directions for install of a NOS conny kit on a squarebird. I had it installed on my grandmothers car during restoration. I will forward the pic on to Ray as the pics I take are too large for me to post.

It clearly shows that the bullets have to be cut off. There is nothing about removing them but that would be an option.

As for how they are mounted to the bumper they are bolted to either the upper or lower and unfortunately I do not remember.

Not sure what you want to know. Easy way to tell an opriginal from an aftermarket or repoduction. The trie cover on the originals was made os stainless steel and all the others are steel.

I will include photos of how the bullets were done on my bird. Basically prior to rechroming covers were welded in place and then the sawed off bullets were rechromed. Nice touch done by the gent who did my 58.

If ?? please ask.

It appears from the info recieved over the years that Ford had at least 2 different styles of kits. The difference appears to be in the extension that is mounted to the rear bumper.

Fuz
58's&64's
Sun Prairie, Wi
tmjsong1@aol.com

[YellowRose]

1958-1960 conny kit question

"Fuz" just sent me the pix. First one is the instructions for mounting the Continental Kit on a '58 Tbird. I am sure it also applies to the '59 & '60. The other shows the cut off bullets. If you look closely, you will see there is no bullet tip on the bullets. They have been cut off 2 3/4" back. It is hard to read that dimension on the instruction sheet, but I read it as 2 3/4".
You will be looking straight down at the two bullets, minus their tips, with part of the bumper showing up underneath them.

I am not sure that I am going to be able to post that instruction link here. I had to downsize it somewhat to get it to 800x600, so it does not read to well. I might have to put it directly on the server and post a link to it. Here is the bullet picture.

[YellowRose]

1958-1960 conny kit question

Here is the Continental Kit Installation Instructions for the Squarebird. I have a large size, as "Fuz" sent me. You can click on it to make it smaller or larger. At least I can. You can scroll back and forth to read it better. I will also post a somewhat smaller copy of it too. It DOES call for to cut off the tips of the bullets by 2 3/4".

http://www.squarebirds.org/SB/'58Con...tionsLarge.jpg

http://www.squarebirds.org/SB/'58ContKitInstallInstructionsMedium.jpg