The whole radiator seal thing has been a discussion on a number of sites through the years so I guess it is logical it would pop up here also
So we're guessing your car is in the late 180,000 to early 190,000 range and of course NJ cars always seem to odd patterns of practices.
All we can go on IMHO are the remaining unrestored cars we have access to and draw out conclusion from those.
Most appear to have been retained with staples but we do have a peppering of originals retained by screws.
All of the ones with staples I found stop short of the hood pinsThe ones with screws appear to travel the full length of the radiator support Here the pin looks like it was mounted below and passed through a hole cut in the seal