Yep crackedbacks got it, its those friggin bumpers. I stripped out a 74 dart sedan. Holy crap them damned things can give ya a hernia. If i was building a 74 up id strip out all that beefy under structure, and shock absorbers, and make a lightweight set of brackets to mount the stock steel outer bumpers to.
The front bumper absorbers attach to the front frame rails just the way the earlier non absorbing bumpers do. The rear of the car is a bit different the way everything attaches. Some steel tube, and a welder tho and you can make some lightweight mounts for the back tho.
I bet the doors have side impact beams in them too. Tho i think id leave these in place as removing them wont save you too much in weight. I bet stripping out the heavy gage bumper inner structure in both bumpers would save you a minimum 225 lbs i think the structure behind the bumpers on the car i stripped was between 1/8" and 1/4" thick. Thats some overkill. Plus the chrome outer bumper bolted to it.
