Bending one bumper at a time

For most car owners, the term replacement part is unwelcome at best. Who wants to shell out hard-earned cash to replace a failed window motor or an ailing water pump? The term aftermarket part is better, implying an improvement over an OEM part, in many cases upgrading the car’s appearance or performance. Replacing the factory-supplied grille for one with an edgier look, adding a turbocharger for better acceleration and top speed, or beefing up the suspension for a stiffer, sportier feel isn’t necessarily an inexpensive hobby, but for many car enthusiasts, the money, time, and effort are well worth it.

Fabricator and entrepreneur Grant Mallicote entered the aftermarket industry, literally by accident, when he made and then perfected a custom pickup truck bumper. His company, Bodyguard^®Truck Accessories, Paris, Texas, fabricates tube and plate to make functional, aggressive-looking replacements for original truck bumpers. The company augments its bumpers with a second product line, side steps.

A Collision With Destiny

The son of a rancher, Mallicote learned how to handle a welding torch at a young age, and like most farmers and ranchers, the bulk of his experience was in common repairs. One day his father returned from making the rounds with a crumpled front bumper. Grant figured he could save his father a few dollars by fabricating a bumper from some leftover tubing and plate. It looked pretty good, and it wasn’t long before quite a few Mallicotes had custom-made bumpers on their trucks. As time went on, many Mallicote neighbors had tubular bumpers, and then they started popping up all over town. When he started getting orders from beyond the local area, he knew he was onto something good.

Little by Little

Mallicote didn’t take big strides to build his business. He proceeded slowly, taking many small steps to develop the products and expand the business.

Product Design. Although he doesn’t have a design background, Mallicote has a good sense of how the product should look and he has an eye for detail, said Kelli Mallicote, the company’s marketing director.

Bodyguard bumpers’ unique look is based on their construction, which is mainly 11⁄4- and 2-in. tubing and steel plate, both smooth-surfaced and tread style, 0.120 to 0.1875 in. thick. Many of the bumpers do more than the original equipment did, like protecting the radiator, headlights, and turn signal lamps. Many of the bumpers also wrap around the front end, which is the origin of the company’s name.

“Initially I used a tape measure and cardboard to make templates, and I relied a lot on hand-drawn sketches,” Mallicote said. Eventually the company transitioned to 2-D software, then 3-D software, and now everything is done in SolidWorks®.

Equipment. “The first bender I bought was a Pro-Tools manual bender, a ratcheting unit,” Mallicote said. He later added an air-over-hydraulic conversion kit to speed things up a bit, and eventually replaced that unit with one that stores bending programs, a programmable draw bender from Baileigh.

For bending the plate components, Mallicote invested in a 12-ft.-long, 350-ton Accurpress machine and outfitted it with Wila tooling.

Advertising. Word-of-mouth advertising got the business started, but eventually that has its limits. These days every bumper is adorned with a decal that bears the company name and telephone number. The bumpers draw attention to themselves and indirectly to the decal, which is an inexpensive, mobile, and effective advertisement. Phone calls turn into additional sales that deploy more decals.

Powder Coating. As far as color selection, Mallicote took a cue from Henry Ford. Black goes with everything, and besides that, it would be endlessly complicated to inventory every automotive paint color known to man. However, it’s not unusual for a customer to have a local shop paint the bumper to match his truck.

Very Custom Bumpers and Side Steps

The crucial question asked about every aftermarket part is, How well will this part fit my vehicle? Every enthusiast has a story about a component that didn’t really fit his car or truck. Bolt hole alignment is one thing; a good fit is something else altogether.

This is where Mallicote, aiming to distinguish Bodyguard products in a crowded market, doesn’t cut corners. The company makes nearly 200 bumper styles, marketing 105 unique part numbers in its Traditional series bumpers, 31 in its T2 series, and 56 in its Assault series.

“Our No. 1 priority is to tailor the look,” Mallicote said.

Bodyguard, 2675 Farm to Market 79, Paris, TX 75460, 903-785-8939, www.bodyguardbumpers.com