Topic: VIN on Engine and Transmission

[dave6768]

Not even sure how you will prove it is as delivered and if anyone would notarize a statement saying so.

You can get anything notarized.  The only thing a notary verifies it that you are indeed the person signing the document.

[rodster]

I guess that's why they say.....not worth the paper it's signed on.

[Greg45]

Just to verify that I really have a Mustang. I uploaded a couple of current pictures.

http://s1144.photobucket.com/user/GregZ06/library/Mustang

[Richard P.]

Greg are you sure that's a Mustang?( Ha HA) I've seen other strange things from Ford. I owned a 1966 convertible that the warranty plate from Ford indicated that it left as a 6 cylinder (T code) but the VIN # on the inner aprons was for a 8 cylinder (C) code. The installed engine was a 6 cylinder.

[J_Speegle]

Generally speaking a consecutive number 754XXX with a scheduled build around June 9th (09T) compared to a 757XXX scheduled build around June 13th (13T) is a 3 day spread, give or take some days...........

Remember/consider that (from your example) the June 13th car could have been finished three weeks BEFORE the June 9th scheduled car from the examples taken from Ford documents. The three day difference is what a worker guessed would be the spread when the orders for the cars arrived at the factory and VIN's assigned. That could have been weeks or months before the car assembly was started.

Too bad we don't have exact dates like the 67- up cars

[J_Speegle]

Good point and I agree. My optimism for a couple days apart, going by scheduled build, is based around that engine and transmission being destine for a K-code only and those K-codes, generally being special orders and sharing many of same special parts,

K code in general would not be special order items they were just another option no more special than 6 cylinders only lower volume

that they would have been delayed together (as Greg45 mentioned).

Are you referring to engine parts or something else. Have not seen any documented "delays" or shortages - do you have some to offer. Preassembled engines and trans arrived when needed, unloaded and moved to holding areas at the car assembly plants. If there had been a delay in H pipes (for example) that would not delay the delivery of the engine or other items that were destine for the car assembly plant. Just meant that no cars need that part would be started once the current supply at the plant was gone. Just like any other part

It would be interesting to find out at what point in time the engine and transmission were stamped in the factory to help purely guess if it could have been a mixup or potentially a quality control issue with another engine/transmission substituted.

Depended on the year and plant. At San Jose I would guess that it was on the mezzanine where the VINs were applied. Engines and trans (assembled together) would have met the cars after that point - with either the buildsheet with the rotation of the car or the number written on the assembly, depending on what plant,  on the engine and trans assembly making it difficult for the wrong engine to go to the wrong car without some one ignoring their job.

[J_Speegle]

A K-code GT is a special order.

Respectfully disagree - If so each K code would have had a 6 digit DSO on the door tag which they didn't - along with the supporting documentation in the glove box telling the dealer and service center the non-regular production features the car had. Since the K code and the GT package were both regular production options it does not fit the description of or needed a special order.

With less than 1% of production I consider the K-code a special order in itself. Do you happen to have a more accurate figure?

Low production does not equate to special order - if so bench seats would have also likely been one. There are no accurate figures on any production numbers that I'm aware of. They were reported to have been destroyed during a fire at the Rotunda  - just what I've been told. Only number that has gotten repeated over and over again is from a book written in the  early days by Walter Miller. Never took the opportunity to ask him where those numbers came from or if they were a guess

[jwc66k]

With less than 1% of production I consider the K-code a special order in itself. Do you happen to have a more accurate figure?

There are a couple of factors not included:
Marketing forecasts determined what model cars should be built well before actual production began to fill dealer inventory. That means that the first cars off the assembly line, "K" cars included, were not "special orders".
Is a "special order" from a dealer a "special order" or is it to fill inventory. My San Jose 65 GT Fastback was delivered to a Sacramento dealer, but was sold in a Redwood City dealership 3 months later. An inventory car.
A special order from a customer is just that, a "special order". It does not necessarily have an order number in the DSO.
Back to the original Query. In talking about the mis-matched VINs with a friend (between us, we own 5 HP Mustangs), there is another possibility, the original engine failed at final test. There was another engine available, so to make the earlier sale, it was swapped (we'll get another engine later). I have seen and documented a similar VIN problem where a 64 1/2 "D" code convertible was re-identified as a "F" code (5F08D192898 to 5F08F205641). The only conclusion was the engine failed. As it was real near the end of the production year, a decision was made to get it out of here and sell the car with whatever was available. The door data plate info - 76A M 86 20G 52 1 6. The last I saw the car was at a swap meet up for sale in California.
Jim

[Greg45]

To my wife and me, it was special order.     We had a 427 Galaxy convertible that I paid about $1,300.00 for that we traded in when the Mustang was ordered.  The dealer took possession of the trade-in at the time of the order and we then proceeded to spend several months driving POSs off the dealers back lot.  Some were so bad we made it only a few blocks from the dealership before they died.  I really don't remember exactly when we placed the order, but I know we drove the dealer's cars in a lot of snowy weather before taking delivery in June.

Side note, according to a friend that purchased his K-code that same spring, the dealer had a 427SC Cobra and a GT350 in the showroom near the time we took delivery of our car.  I remember seeing the Cobra (no back seat) and the GT350 (cheap looking and only in white).  I much preferred our Ivy Green with all the options.  If I only knew then!