Hope to invite a few known cool local folks over once I have something a little more worthy of inspection, and a slightly more presentation-ready shop.

Might be a minute!! I'm going to keep messing it up and only cleaning the localized important areas for awhile yet.

About an hour with paint stripper and a half hour with the sandblaster proved I can save the OE lower grille support.
You never know what you have until all the coatings and fillers are removed.

I'd bought a reproduction and it's pretty nice but I liked the OE one a little better.

It might be the original part it was built with but I don't know...It came on the car back in '88 when I acquired it, and doesn't look to have been changed, but it may have been
swapped decades ago with the original right front fender was mashed and replaced. I can't tell, I'm not that good.