Topic: 66 Actual Build Date

[bryancobb]

Can anyone help me with my actual build date?

[Pete Bush]

Bryan,

Don't you have your buck tag?

Actual build date can vary greatly from scheduled build date. The difference on my Metuchen Sprint convertible is 6 weeks!

And VIN number will only yield a comparison amongst other "scheduled" dates.

[CharlesTurner]

To form any guess of the "actual" build date of a 65-66 will require an extensive inspection of date codes found throughout the car... such as sheet metal and other known original parts with date codes.  And even then, it cannot be 100% accurate.

[bryancobb]

Pete and Charles,

I THOUGHT their was enough VIN's documented now to give a +/- 1 or 2 days just by the VIN.

Yes Pete, I do have my buck tag but wasn't aware it gave any build date insight.
Here it is.

[Pete Bush]

Bryan,

The C14 on your buck tag is the date that the shell of the car (buck) was assembled. In your case this happens to be pretty close to the scheduled build date that's on your door tag C15. This isn't always the case. My car, for instance, has a scheduled build date on the door tag (and build sheet) of 10E (May 10th), while the buck tag has F21 (June 21st). The buck tag date is probably as close as you can get to the actual build date - it might have finished the Trim/Chassis line the next day. No real way to tell.

The sheet metal date codes sometimes don't even help very much. Again, looking at the date codes on the metal surrounding the convertible top lift cylinders on my car I have 4-5-B3 on the left and 4-15-B3 on the right. Other sheet metal seems to be consistent with late April as well. But then I have the buck date of June.... Go figure!?

Dates based upon the VIN's correspond to the "scheduled" date not the "actual" build date. Using the Mustang Production Guide, yours is consistent with C15.

[J_Speegle]

I THOUGHT their was enough VIN's documented now to give a +/- 1 or 2 days just by the VIN.

Since we really don't know when any car was completed (well maybe one or two) we have nothing to go by other than a guess based on the span between projected and real dates on 67 cars built at the same plant. Even then we could only produce a range IMHO

[66kcoupe]

for reference the build date on the door tag on my '66 Metuchen car was 04d (April 4), buck tag is c31(March 31), 4 days difference.

[midlife]

Whoa!  I never noticed the buck tag date didn't match the door tag date!  My 66 Metuchen car has A6 (Thursday) on the buck tag and A10 (Monday---OMG!  that explains a lot!) on the door.