In a message dated 3/17/01 2:17:56 PM, radish150@EARTHLINK.NET writes:

<< One more thing, I'm planning on building some burly custom pipe bumpers
for this van, I like the idea of getting rear ended at 20mph and not having a
scratch on the van. >>

About a year and a half ago a nearly full length of 3 X 6 X .375 6061 AL
structural channel came my way.  I started to go through the process of
turning it into a fine set of bumpers for my newer Syncro.  I talked to my
buddy at a fab shop and he said he would be able to roll the curves into it
to match the original bumpers.  If I did the fitting and finishing on the
bumper ends he would do the weld up.

I was all set to do this when my daily driver Syncro was ass-ended.  As I
have mentioned before, I was stopped at the bottom of a rather steep hill
when I was hit by a 101 year old guy.  He claimed his brakes had failed, but,
in reality, he had mistaken the throttle for the brake pedal and no matter
how hard he pushed on it, his car refused to stop.  The damage amounted to
the left rear corner of the van going bye-bye.  The left end of the bumper
was flattened and had a hinge bend at the bumper mount.  The lower left
corner of the hatch opening was moved forward about 2 inches, the corner
panel was bulged from the beltline down and the trailing wheel opening was
gone.  But, all in all, the damage was skin deep.  I then thought of what
might have happened if all the kinetic energy from the collision had gone
into a rigid bumper.  Would the damage have been so easily repaired or would
a sturdy bumper have transferred the forces more deeply into the structural
elements of the van requiring repairs which are seldom done correctly?  I
have opted to run the stock bumpers and have my buddy, Chuck the bodyman,
bump out the fenderbenders as they occur instead of him having to strap the
van into his frame machine to try to make it whole again.

Rich