Well, considering you kind of want your engine to be hot at all times, especially winter, the "beater" bumper seems to be the better choice all year round to me. No matter how you slice it, it's still a Taurus. Fugly, and a horrible car in general. Sometimes though, we get stuck with something and it's not worth getting something else. Block off ALL of the grills in the beater bumper, keep it on all year round, and open up a license plate sized hole in the upper grill in the summer. If attaching blocking is easier on the "non-beater" is easier to do, then use that one. I second the motion for a cow-catcher. The winner of both of this year's AMEC Fuel economy run has one, so as far as I'm concerned you should make your car look as much like his as possible (See AMEC threads). $10 worth of aluminum stock from a home improvement place will build you the support you need to turn that piece of coroplast into a cow catcher.
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