Okay, chances are good that anybody here who'd be interested has already read this over at Classic Motorsports, but after years of being depressed at the fact that you could go buy a new (and ugly, at least relatively and to my eyes) late-style 2002 nose but not an early one, I am so stoked about repro early noses being available that I had to tell someone. Even if they already knew. So there you go. New early noses. For reals!
Classic Motorsports 2002 project blog entry on nose
I love it when we can help. 
I prefer the later nose.
(Ducks and covers....)
In reply to Tom Heath:
You guys totally made my month with that news. I'm kinda surprised I didn't hear about it on the 2002 list I subscribe to...
In reply to Woody:
Seems like late cars are easier to find... Your aesthetic tastes have done you a favor 
When we look at my general tastes, I would have a hard time arguing that I had a direct line to Perfection in Design...
I don't love the big bumpers but I do love the plastic grill and big tail lights. The first 2002 that I ever spent any time around was a beautiful, cream colored '74 tii. That's the one that made an indelible impression on me.
Yea, and it fits f'ing perfectly. What a great piece! Well worth the price, considering how much time it takes to make a rusty one whole again.
Note: the above comment was made from a CMS perspective, not the GRM side of my brain.
In reply to Per Schroeder:
I think my project is probably more GRM than CMS, and I don't think that's going to be changed by the occasional judicious application of paycheck rather than a month or so of disassembling and attempting to straighten a bit-rusty/bit-bent nose...
It's a 2002. I don't believe in the sanctity of a car (and I intend to do some things to this one which might make a purist faint), but if I didn't care about how it looked and fit and so forth I could certainly find an easier/cheaper/faster/less-nose-heavy car to work with...
I like the 73s - roundie back end - newer style up front. Although I ultimately replaced a squashed 73 front end with a 75 - back in the days they were more rusty crap can than appreciating classic. Still wouldn't bother me - I'm with Woody - kinda like the later ones (minus the diving platform bumpers)
oldtin wrote:I like the 73s - roundie back end - newer style up front.
Wibble?
I was always under the impression that 1974 was the introduction of the late-02 triad of one-piece grille, square taillights, and heavy bumpers...
73s were kinda transitional - had the black slats so they have the look of later cars -but older dimensions and not plastic - still had the narrow center grill, so you could interchange with older, but not newer. 74 went with the wider kidney and plastics.
Ah... All three of my 2002s have had black slats (save for two silver bars)... I thought it was only the 1600s that lacked the black slats (say that six times fast)...
Of course, all my cars (two '70s and a '71, though not 100% certain about the first '70) have been such mongrels that they are hardly references for originality...
