Thanks Rich!
The cylinder is unbolted; more precisely, the the bracket is unbolted from the frame, but the bracket and MC are still together. I have a "new" MC to put in its place, so I won't need to remove the innards of the cylinder itself.
What is most confounding though, is that, yes, the rod should simply fall out, or I should be able to simply lift the MC out the car leaving the rod hanging off of the pedal.
The boot was completely shot, so there's no telling how long or how much corrosion could be in there. AFAIK, it's been a California car all its life and in a garage for the last 20 some years. I'll continue trying to break the rod loose, and if I have to, I may just take it out piece by piece (piston out, etc)
Hopefully some more folks with P9 experience will chime in. I worked on the Plymouth and a toilet today; toilet is fixed, the Plymouth...not so much.
BTW, I'm originally from the Kutztown area. (I'm responding on behalf of my wife who has started this thread)