Hello,
I just joined the Forum and was reading over some of the posts. Let me introduce myself first I was a tool & die maker and tooling engineer for 41 years. I built or had built stamping dies, zinc die cast tooling, and plastic injection molds both thermoset and thermoplastic. I started out as a die maker / mold maker and ended up my work life as the engineering manager at a tool & die shop in China. Could not get a job here so went where the money was.
I also have been fooling around with Mustangs since the 60's. A friend came to me with a 65 fastback one day in I think 1973 and said the car owner wanted $800.00 for it and wanted me to review the car and give my thought. As I walked around the car I noticed that the pin holes in the front fender were not right for any of the mustang emblems used. I opened the hood and it had an export brace. The front of the car sat higher than usual. There were holes in the tops of the front fender where mirrors had been mounted. I was a V-8 2-V automatic car, Wimbledon white with black standard interior. I opened the glove box and the owners manual was still there. I had a stamp applied to the front cover that said "In Recognition of Trademark Rights T-5". Did not have internet back then but finally found out what the story was. The owners manual had the dealer name in Munich Germany. My friend bought the car and I did a custom pearl paint job with Flip Flop Yellow on top. He passed away a few years back but his son still has the car.
I also bought a 1972 Mach 1 T-5 that a friend crashed it is just sitting since 1974. Seems there is no demand for them.
Now back to the emblems. I feel they were made in the same die cast tooling. The numbers 1 and 2 are the cavity numbers and the difference in the details of the parts is probably due to the electrodes used to burn the cavities wore and the corners come out different. You use a process called EDM to make tooling like this that was just getting going good in the 60's. Ford bought machines that could burn the tooling for a Torino hood, largest ever built. This process is still used but CNC mill are used for most of the work.
Over the years of searching for T-5 emblems I did find NOS of the rectangle version. The T-5 is just an applied sticker and the base casting is actually from the Comet car and was seen on the rear quarters of Comets. I also found NOS 71 - 73 and they are applied where the Mustang name is normally in the center of the dash but not on cars with gages. I have also found NOS hub caps that do not have the Mustang in the center just black.
So if anyone reads this hope it sheds some light.
Have a great time with your cars.
David Fowler