Gosh dang rusty bits!!
I decided to dive into pulling the front bumper in by simply (ha!) drilling out the square hole where the '72's used to mount their bumper.
Simple project turned into big freaking hassel. The right outboard nut and bolt holding the bumper to the bracket is matted for life by rust
and won't free up with any manner of penetrating oil or elbow grease.
I took off the bottom "piece"... chin...
to get at the back of the bracket and took the bumper assemply out in one piece.
Then I found that the screw heads are all rusted away holding the filler strip between the bumper and the grille. I bought a drill bit to extract the screws but ave not tried it yet.
I worry that these are screwed into the plastic grill and need to be really careful. I got some of them out by turning them from behind but it's hard to get a handle on them...
With all this apart I'm going to go ahead and repair and paint the grille too...
Two rectangles get drilled out to 5/8
rusty screw heads = frustration
sigh... a sad sight...