The last 45 years haven’t been kind to the plastic stone shield and grills in the 72 Cutlass. The parts are chipped, cracked, faded, missing pieces and otherwise broken. The time has come to replace them with reproduction parts. 

This all started with a plan to replace the headlight housing so that new headlights could be fitted and properly adjusted. In order to replace the headlight housings, the grill, stone shield, headlight surrounds, headlight buckets, and front bumper need to be removed. Which led to the classic might as well. Since I have to remove this, I might as well replace that.

In preparation for this project, I ordered a new stone shield, grills, headlight surrounds, headlights, and installation hardware. I referenced the Factory Assembly Manual for details on proper removal. Remember to spray any bolts with WD40 to save time and later headache.

There are four bolts holding the front bumper brackets in place. I completely removed the front two and loosened the rear two. This allowed for the bumper to be lowered so that the grill pieces could be safely removed.

With everything out of the way, the cleanup began. Remaining parts were cleaned and treated with rust stop. This is also the time to paint any of these parts.