There is a drain hole at the bottom of each end of the rear ’48-’49 Cadillac bumper where an upright brace is welded on the inside of the bumper (by the large cheek of the upright under the tail light). The hole, the size of your finger, is not round but rather of an odd shape as it is formed by the brace welded to the bottom of the bumper. It is apparently to drain out the water that will collect inside of the mounting brace that is welded to the back of the bumper at that point. If you lay on the ground and look under the rear bumper you will see what I am talking about.
Well, when I took off my rear bumper for plating I noticed that a large nut was wedged in one of the holes. When I tried to pop it out with a screwdriver it would not budge. When I tried a long drift punch and a hammer I got a large amount of small rocks and sand. Both sides were plugged up. I had to put the bumper in my sand blaster to really clean the area up for plating and got enough sand and rocks to fill two coke cans. My suggestion is that when you wash your car you should give these two holes a very generous spray of high pressure water. Incidentally, I have wondered why the ‘49s I have seen in junk yards have rusted out rear bumpers; now I know.
