BTW they also cut out the underside of the cowl, then cut out and welded over the wiper holes and louvers on the top. That always seemed like a waste of effort compared to just deleting the wiper linkage and motor but leaving the cowl as it was.

I'm trying to find a creative way to make that waterproof because it's got to go back in - we've got an annual safety inspection here, and it won't pass without wipers. Get noticed on the street with no sticker, then they'll notice no wipers, and would probably impound my car.

I've got an entire upper and lower cowl to use but if I could get away with not patching the lower cowl panel back in it'd be a lot less work.

FWIW, see image for the evidence of the culprit. I asked Arlen about it once and gave me the answer I expected, they were just old cars and it's what the customer wanted.