Bertone GTV bumpers

[Marcus Alley <alley@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I have a bumper question for the historians (not sure if it's as
exciting as the one about Gulia Super badges!).  I have a '71 1750 GTV
with chrome bumpers.  Both the front and the back bumpers have a pair
of 'extensions'.  I'm sure this isn't the correct phrase, but I'm not
quite sure what to call them.  I'm referring to the vertical chrome
blocks, about 2" wide by 8" high (sorry, 5cm x 20cm for the rest of
the world), that attach to the bumper on either side of the license
plate frame.  A rubber pad plugs into these extensions, giving you
that extra protection from someone trying to parallel park in front or
behind you.  Hopefully this all makes some sense.  I would have
assumed that this was standard equipment, but my question relates to a
couple of pictures in Joe Benson's Alfa Romeo Buyer's Guide.  In there
he has two pictures, one of a '69 (listed as a former author vehicle)
and a '71.  Both of these cars have plain front chrome bumpers,
without the extensions.  I'm not sure where Joe lives, and I'm not
even sure if there was a license plate frame on the front bumper of
that car, but the '71 in the book had Michigan plates. So at least one
of these cars was in the US. Were the plain bumpers an option?  Were
they a "euro" spec thing?  Or were they owner modified?  All the GTV's
I've seen (which really isn't that many) have the extensions.  I
realize there are parking lot hazards, but the extension-less look is
very nice and quite clean.

Oops, back to work. Thanks.

Marc Alley

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