While chasing overheating gremlins, I discovered that a ton of leaves, little branches, and dirt had found their way into the space between the ac condenser and the radiator.
After assessing the situation and figuring out how to clean the area to the best of my ability without removing the radiator, I determined that a missing seal between the top of the radiator and the core support allowed for all this trash to end up trapped in that area.
As bad as it looked, this was not the cause for the overheating issue, but it wasn't helping either. And since I have a thing about keeping my '76 Corvette as clean as possible, I had to find a way to get all that trash out of there.
Ideally, I would have removed the radiator shroud and the radiator itself. And I tried but failed in my attempt. I think that removing the hood is necessary to get that job done, but there was no way for me to safely do so all by myself. At least not without damaging the hood, and that was not an option.