67-73 Abody frame Rail and Rad Support

Kern Dog said

I have wondered about the shock type bumpers versus the standard bracket bumpers on 1974 models. I thought it was likely a change that took place partway through the model year. I assumed that the later builds would all have the shock type since all 1975-76 cars had them but I have seen/owned early built cars have the shock and later builds have the traditional design. It has always confused me. I thought that maybe there were different assembly plants working on different mandates ??

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It was actually the other way around. The ‘74 model year started with shock mounted bumpers and only the single mounting hole in the frame. Then there was a production issue with the shock mounts, I’m not sure what it was. But sometime in December ‘73 (‘74 model year production) the change was made back to standard bumper mounts. The frame rails from that point until the end of the year had all 3 bumper mounts in the frame rail, for both standard and shock mount brackets.

The second picture I posted above, with all 3 mounting locations, is my ‘74 Duster. It had standard brackets and all 3 locations, and has a June ‘74 production date. So fairly late in ‘74 model year production.