Topic: T5 w/RHD on a '68 Marti

[Oz390]

Would this indicate conversion in the US by Ford or at a foreign subsidiary?  Never seen this before and a post locally here noted the callout...

It is for a T5, which I thought was for German import only, but the supposition by many is it was sent to Oz... which I am unsure is the case.  Were T5's Germany only, due to the copyright issue on the name (a local motorcycle manufacturer used it?) or was it for other non-US delivery as well???

[stangfan]

I've always understood that T5 was only used for Mustangs exported to Germany as per the copyright issue.  Mustangs that were exported to any other country were...Mustangs.  There have been many cases of T5s being subsequently resold to other countries AFTER being German exports. 

[J_Speegle]

Often owners confuse the export models and the "T5's" together and plenty of exports have been changed to T5's over the years so the waters can be muddied

Don't believe Ford (for a regular production vehicle) did any RHD conversions in the states

Altering, in country, was pretty typical since many individual countries had different requirements that needed to be catered to. T5's appear to be the only ones dealt with differently and were done at Ford since they required emblem deletion and altering

Would be interesting to see a copy of the Marti. Of course what is printed there is not the same terms Ford may have used (since its all taken from code) but can be of the person decoding it

Think the original buildsheet would be the interesting piece to see for the car.  Believe there are one or two boxes on that form that indicate EXPORT in 68

[67gta289]

Altering, in country, was pretty typical since many individual countries had different requirements that needed to be catered to

Jeff, in 1986/7 I did some design work as a supplier to Ford, making low volume parts for the Ford export division.  The engineering group was small (IIRC about 12 people) and was tucked away in Advanced Vehicle Technology Building #1 on Rotunda Drive.  They knew precisely what the specific destination country requirements were - they had to do sell vehicles.  Parts were shipped to a site in New Jersey for modification, before being shipped to the middle east.  I'm not sure if that site was there in the 60's, nor if it was staffed with Ford/UAW personnel or contracted out.

The point being that there are countries where Ford does not have significant enough presense to modify on the receiving end, so they need to do it somewhere else.  Certainly though in countries such as Germany and Mexico, there was no need to modify the cars in the US.

[J_Speegle]

The point being that there are countries where Ford does not have significant enough presense to modify on the receiving end, so they need to do it somewhere else.  Certainly though in countries such as Germany and Mexico, there was no need to modify the cars in the US.

In some cases during the 60's all imports into certain companies were routed through specific dealers that were contracted to handle the modifications in some countries based on what we've got documented. Don't know specifically about Australia or if Ford used Ford of Australia (smaller units such as you mentioned) to handle the much more involved conversions that cars saw in those years

Of course in Mexico for example, some years Mustangs were produced in country also so no need for US production to do anything

[Oz390]

There is limited info on the RHD conversion of, I think, about 200-ish 66's here in Australia.  As a 68 this does not fit that segment of Mustang-ism.

Understand the confusion of export/T5, will see if I can find the Marti and share...

Thanks for the replies.