What type of license plate bracket goes with this bumper?

[HIGHWAY BY THE SEA]

I am nearly at the time to get this truck back from the mechanic with the new engine, transmission, and power steering. I did not think far enough ahead to realize that there is no license plate bracket on this bumper that I have pictured below. Does anyone have a picture or description of what type of license plate bracket it requires? I'm going to need this to be street legal.

http://imageshack.com/a/img924/1135/8vVd2W.jpg

[special-K]

None. The plate gets bolted to the vertical back. Are there no holes? My tag is to the left and it slips up between bed and tailgate. The top of the plate is obscured with the stickers not fully legible. Never been harassed over it. Been that way since '72. '71 was the first plate here in MD for multi-year plates. '71 is embossed in the lower left corner with a box for a sticker on the right for the following years, through '75. There were two more multi-year plates with just the year sticker on lower right till they went to spreading registration throughout the year. That's when they went to month top left and year top right. Not my problem the bureaucrats keep changing the format while my truck has stayed the same.

[HIGHWAY BY THE SEA]

The truck is on the other side of the state so I cannot go to it and see right now. But I sure do not remember any holes, and I do not see any in the picture the mechanic sent. I may have to build a bracket for it or something.

[Warrens69GMC]

like this

[FirstOwner69]

As mentioned above, the plate was normally bolted to the left vertical part of the bumper. The first picture from 1971 shows my plate on a typical period correct aftermarket step bumper. In the pic, the bumper is telescoped out to facilitate camper entry. The second picture (taken today) is a close-up with the light for the plate visible. You can also see various hole locations I tried over the years.

[cericd]

Originally Posted by FirstOwner69

As mentioned above, the plate was normally bolted to the left vertical part of the bumper. The first picture from 1971 shows my plate on a typical period correct aftermarket step bumper. In the pic, the bumper is telescoped out to facilitate camper entry. The second picture (taken today) is a close-up with the light for the plate visible. You can also see various hole locations I tried over the years.

Sorry to thread jack but I was wondering if you know what paint was used to paint the bumper in the picture on the right. I used to see these bumpers all the time when I was a kid and they always had a metallic grey look to them but when I see ones that have been repainted these days they tend to look too silver or reflective. I have a stamped dealer bumper that I'd like to restore but I want it to have the correct look.

[FirstOwner69]

Originally Posted by cericd

Sorry to thread jack but I was wondering if you know what paint was used to paint the bumper in the picture on the right. I used to see these bumpers all the time when I was a kid and they always had a metallic grey look to them but when I see ones that have been repainted these days they tend to look too silver or reflective. I have a stamped dealer bumper that I'd like to restore but I want it to have the correct look.

I've repainted that bumper 4 or 5 times. The last was probably about 20 years ago. I can only guess that I used some version of silver from RustOleum or Krylon. I would have used satin since the original finish was not glossy.

[cericd]

Thanks. Yours looks like what I remember them looking like.

['68OrangeSunshine]

Originally Posted by cericd

Sorry to thread jack but I was wondering if you know what paint was used to paint the bumper in the picture on the right. I used to see these bumpers all the time when I was a kid and they always had a metallic grey look to them but when I see ones that have been repainted these days they tend to look too silver or reflective. I have a stamped dealer bumper that I'd like to restore but I want it to have the correct look.

I bought my truck, a '68 C/10 Stepside in 1973. The PO said to respray the Safe-T-Bumper with aluminum paint once a year. I haven't bothered to. It's a work truck and looks fine.
As for the high on the drivers' side mounting: Originally that's where my license plate was mounted too. Since I added a Class III hitch, the plate doesn't have the ''headroom'' for the year numeral to be read, so I moved it over to the passengers side, flush with the top of the bumper.
PIX: Before adding the hitch and straightening out decades of bends, and After.

[FirstOwner69]

Originally Posted by '68OrangeSunshine

I bought my truck, a '68 C/10 Stepside in 1973. The PO said to respray the Safe-T-Bumper with aluminum paint once a year.

Now that "aluminum" is mentioned, it sounds very familiar. May have been what I used.

[special-K]

I repainted my Bartens bumper with Rustoleum Aluminum and it came out way more metallic silver than expected. I didn't want it to look like hillbilly chrome. I've gotten used to it and it's been 10 years anyway. I guess it looks right in the picture here.You can see the (bumper co.) factory slots for mounting tag and the provision for tag light is pressed out of the diamond plate.

Before & after and this summer:

[HIGHWAY BY THE SEA]

Then I am going to make my own bracket (I have a cool design in mind) and I might move the tag to the middle of the bumper with this bracket. I dislike drilling into my bumpers, so I am going to attempt a design so this will not be necessary.

[special-K]

How will you fasten it? It's unusual yours never had holes for a tag. I wonder what the P.O.s did

[HIGHWAY BY THE SEA]

I bought this bumper from a board member here and I have messaged him to ask him that same question about how he attached his license plate to it. He may have a picture of it on here somewhere but I'm not sure.
The bracket design that I have in mind will utilize those bolts that are visible near the trailer hitch and possibly the trailer hitch bolt itself. I am in the brainstorming phase of designing this right now, but if I do successfully design and make it I will certainly share it on here for all to see!

[HIGHWAY BY THE SEA]

****UPDATE***
Problem solved! I designed this aluminum tag bracket specifically for this bumper. Drilling into the bumper to attach a tag on it is NOT an option for me. So I made a design-template, took it to a local metal shop, and here is the result! The LED light I ordered for it should be in today. Street legal at last!

[HIGHWAY BY THE SEA]

Here is the final finished product, tag lights and all! Opinions?

[special-K]

Pictures are so huge I couldn't see enough in one frame to catch what was really going on. If it makes you happy, that's all that matters. I would have just drilled the hole that should have been there all along. Kinda reminds me of the time a young feller asked the old feller directions. The old feller told him to start out turning left and... The young feller asked, "Is there a way to get there if I turn right?". "Well sure, but you'd have to drive all the way around the world to get there"

[HIGHWAY BY THE SEA]

Special K, you have obviously never seen my attempts at drilling into a bumper! LOL! It NEVER turns out right! Add in the fact that this is diamond plate and you end up with a pretty screwed-up mess! And speaking of screwed up messes, I fixed the problem with the pictures. I had put those oversized pictures on the forum from my work computer instead of my own one, and I guess there was a problem. And as far as the tag goes, it would not fit screwed onto the very back of the bumper vertically because too much of the tag would be over the rear edge, top and/or bottom. In my humble opinion it looks sloppy like that, and can be damaged or bent easily. And I was not able to put it under where the tailgate bottom is either because there simply is no room for some reason. The tag is too tall to fit under there. Other members pictures of their bumpers had their bumpers lower than mine I guess. I realize that this tag bracket that I made does not look factory correct, but to me it looks so much neater and balanced than simply screwing it on to the bumper somewhere. I was going for street-legal for the most part, neatness is secondary, and this was the best I could do.

['68OrangeSunshine]

I guess if you're gonna tow, you'll hafta put the plate in the rear window.

[HIGHWAY BY THE SEA]

Originally Posted by '68OrangeSunshine

I guess if you're gonna tow, you'll hafta put the plate in the rear window.

Cannot do that. State law prohibits it.
I have no intention of towing anything with this truck anyway because the transmission that I put in it I had to rebuild. Last time I towed something with this particular transmission in another truck of mine I burned up the three and four clutch packs in it. If I ever change my mind and decided to tow anything with this truck though I will use an under-bumper hitch assembly.