Something is missing under my hood...

Looks like someone removed an aircon pump or something but there are no obvious AC controls in the dash. Would the '79 Fairmont have had like an AIR pump for emissions? Mine had a bracket and a bare pulley. This pump would have been directly above the PAS pump.

In other news I have no catalytic converter and there is a fender tag claiming the car was built by Ford of Belgium.

I think I need a new heater core, need to check if its the AC or non-AC type. Don't want to order wrong as the shipping hurts and effectively parts are non-returnable.

As above!

That car you have did not come with factory air. There are not any holes in the firewall where the hoses come thru.

Replacing the heater core will be easy. Just remove the glove box door, and take off the core cover bolts.

The bracket that you see was for the air (smog) pump. Some times they used this bracket on cars that did not have the air (smog) pump as it also holds the power steering pump.

Thanks. core ordered. Hopefully a simple job. I did the one on my Trans Am and it was a nightmare

just a note, it the car has no cats, it doesnt need a smog pump!!

Removing cats is common, they are not required for smog tests on pre-1992 cars here.