Topic: Rear bumper guards deleted, what fills the holes in tail light panel

[1965GTFB]

On a 67/68 if the car does/did not have rear bumper guards what would have been used to fill the holes in the tail light panel/trunk area where the guards and brackets would have mounted?

I don't need the history of which years/cars did or didn't have guards, saw that when searching.  This is on a 67 that did have guards with a non-exhaust cut out rear valance.  We are now using a cut out valance with no guard holes and want to delete the guards.  I realize there are lots of ways to fill the bracket/guard holes but wanted to know if there was a factory way/part to do this.  Or did cars without the guards get different rear sheet metal?

[ruppstang]

IMHO all 67's had bumper guards. Not all 68's did, I believe the ones that did not had no holes drilled.

[67gta289]

Marty, that is exactly what I thought - that the rear bumper guard delete was a 68 cost savings measure.

Just this morning I saw 7T01T202721 on ebay and it is looks to be a pretty decent original-ish car with no rear guards.  But being a Phili DSO, depending on a lot of factors naturally (potential for rust), it might have been played with.  The valence has no holes at the bottom.

I also see 7T01T122746 on ebay as well - and no rear bumper guards.  This car had a shot of the trunk and it looks like some sealer was used (similar to the firewall heater hose holes on an AC car).  Note the build sheet in the trunk also.

Maybe the gang in NJ had a thing against 6 cylinder cars and decided to delete them?

So in one day I've seen two of something I never expected to see.  Time to play the lotto.