[njsteve]

Fiddling around with some vintage parts I located years ago. These are a set of NOS Pontiac Trans Am mudflaps.



Lest you think I drilled holes in a brand new paint job, here is the method recommended by a friend in town who has a white, original paint 68 Shelby. He has similar white Ford mudflaps and has them held on when driving with these heavy duty Home Depot mini clamps. He's been running with this set up for a while now and hasn't lost a mudflap yet. I may paint the clamps black so they don't shine so much, but other than that they seem to hold the mudflaps in place quite firmly.

[70RAlll]

Originally Posted by njsteve

Fiddling around with some vintage parts I located years ago. These are a set of NOS Pontiac Trans Am mudflaps.



Lest you think I drilled holes in a brand new paint job, here is the method recommended by a friend in town who has a white, original paint 68 Shelby. He has similar white Ford mudflaps and has them held on when driving with these heavy duty Home Depot mini clamps. He's been running with this set up for a while now and hasn't lost a mudflap yet. I may paint the clamps black so they don't shine so much, but other than that they seem to hold the mudflaps in place quite firmly.

NJSteve- I am sorry to say this, but you have completely lost me(I am sure others feel the same) with these mud flaps.. You were doing so good but these mud flaps..... man oh man... I am just sort of a lost for words....you know... they sold rear bumper guards also for these cars, they looked like sh!t also, why don't you go ahead and put rear bumper guards on also.. you are going to think I am being a jerk by making this statement-and maybe I am, but I am positive others think the same just will not say it.. Man, your car is looking so pure and perfect... why would you start ruining this,after 4 years of work, by adding stuff like mud flaps.. keep it pure and clean line'd like it has been up to now... I am sorry to say this and hope you don't take it too personally.. Sometimes we get "tunnel vision" and ,at least with myself I do, and I always like to hear others opinions whereby they can see something I am missing because of my tunnelvision... I think this is the case with you and the mud flaps...So I hope you won't pe pissed too long with me, but man... these look like sh!t.....

[njsteve]

To put it bluntly - you can have your own opinion no matter how wrong it is. I bet you think rock chips looks really great and original on a car. I personally don't care for them. The lower portion of these cars are a magnet for road damage, especially the rear fender flares. Tell me your magic secret for preventing rock chips and I'd be happy to consider it. These flaps are not permanent, that's why I used the clips, not screw holes.

I drive my cars. I don't trailer them around in $100K hermetically sealed transportation cocoons and then have white lab coated guys move them from one show to another, like some "collectors" do. Other than body work, I do all my own work.

I've had a set of black plastic mudflaps on my 1-of-1 produced hemi '70 Charger R/T-SE for 23 years and no-one has complained yet. Hell, I even ran them on my 71 hemicuda ragtop when I had that car 25 years ago. Here's a couple shots of me beating the crap out of that 1-of-7 produced, ragtops at the Musclecar Nationals in 1986. Note the mudflaps:





I remove the flaps at shows when I get there, I use them on the car when I drive it home. I'm not out to win any awards because, at the end of the day, I get to drive my car home again - that's my award.


If you'd like, I'd be happy to end this entire thread here and not post anything further if it upsets anyone too much.

[HWYSTR455]

I agree, the rear spats get peppered in short order if you drive the car, same with the front air dam. There's a few companies out there that sell very thin, clear adhesive sheets specifically to prevent this on high-end cars, and was thinking of trying one of those. Most are body-specific, though I'm sure I could either call them for a sheet or buy ones for another car that I know are large enough that I can trim. They even have been used on headlight covers, and don't discolor. I'm sure the 'sheen' will be slightly different, but it sure beats sitting there with a touch-up bottle dabbing for hours. 3M has one called ClearMask or Clear Bra, but I don't think the high-end people use it. The more tailored ones are all shooting for a patent....

.

[njsteve]

Originally Posted by HWYSTR455

I agree, the rear spats get peppered in short order if you drive the car, same with the front air dam. There's a few companies out there that sell very thin, clear adhesive sheets specifically to prevent this on high-end cars, and was thinking of trying one of those. Most are body-specific, though I'm sure I could either call them for a sheet or buy ones for another car that I know are large enough that I can trim. They even have been used on headlight covers, and don't discolor. I'm sure the 'sheen' will be slightly different, but it sure beats sitting there with a touch-up bottle dabbing for hours. 3M has one called ClearMask or Clear Bra, but I don't think the high-end people use it. The more tailored ones are all shooting for a patent....

.

Actually I found a supplier for the bulk 3M material and that is what I will be experimenting with on the forward facing portion of the rear flares and maybe the lower front spolier. I've run that stuff on my Viper race car for 16 years and it stops everything this side of a hockey puck. (even deflects those orange marker cones pretty nicely)

[aronhk_md]

Steve,

Just an idea....if you pulled the rubber off those clamps and just cut down the handles, and maybe even the mouth sides of each clamp a bit they would be a lot smaller. Trim the rubber down and slip them back on. You could even sandblast and paint black like you said. Either way you could probably reduce the mass of each by about 50% and they would have just as much holding power. Might need a pair of pliers or really strong fingers to take them off without the leverage of the long arms, but....