While wandering around ebay I spied a starter Branda has for sale. The said it came out of a 70 MUSTANG MACH 1 AUTOMATIC CAR - 0R05M. It had a short nose.
The nose was a DOAF-D with a Ford oval script.
It had all the same attributes as the common D3 nose we usually see on rebuilds.
I don't recall seeing any posts as to this early of a date for the reinforced nose.