What the rubber bumper is going on in 74

Production started for the ‘74 models with all of the cars at all the plants getting shock mounted bumpers. Then, sometime in mid-December of ‘73 there was some kind of production problem with the front shock mount bumpers, and from mid-December~ish ‘73 to the end of production of the ‘74 model year in July ‘74 the ‘74’s went back to a standard mounted front bumper. Those cars have frame mounts for both types of bumper, so, three threaded holes. The early ‘74’s only have the frame mount for the shock bumper, a single threaded hole.

That also means there are two different ‘74 front bumpers. The design is the same, but the holes for the bumper brackets are in different spots for the shock mounted vs the standard mounted bumpers.

I’ll link a thread with a lot more info here in a minute, a bunch of us with ‘74’s had a thread going that listed production dates and bumper types to come up with that info.