Topic: Early 67 speed control servo location

[67gta]

Hi Folks, newbie to the site.

Just saw a 67 289 coupe this past weekend that has speed control and A/C. The owner said it was built in September 66. Now I've seen speed control cars before and they all have had the servo mounted below the passenger side hood hinge. This was the rare (at least for me) Curtiss-Wright unit with three relays and it was mounted on the firewall in the middle between where the shock tower braces meet the cowl lip. The bellows and bell crank looked like the others I've seen. And it had a different turn signal lever with the end button but also a outside cover that rotated. Under the passenger hood hinge the vacuum tank for the A/C was there.
My questions are; is this the correct location for the servo and is it because the A/C tank was present? Or is it due to the Curtiss-Wright unit being used?
Any idea date wise that the servo was changed to the Perfect-Circle unit?

Thanks
James

[67gtasanjose]

Such an early car (I assume regular production), anything can be possible but the FIRST question I would have is to ask if the Marti Report calls for the Speed Control (or not). Without a Marti Report, I would first presume it was Dealer or P.O. installed.

In the Library section of this forum (under 1967), there is an article on Speed Control (dated after September I believe) but it will represent better what Ford eventually began doing, more than what they started out doing at beginning of production. Maybe a read-thru will shed a little light but remember to take note on dates when investigating such a rare option as this. I think I heard somewhere that less than 20 (of each Body style) were Factory Installed in 1967 model year.

[ruppstang]

Mustang by the numbers says that there were 17 hardtops, 20 fastbacks and 18 convertibles for a total of 55 1967 Mustangs with the speed control option.

It is my understanding that these 55 cars were all produced by Ford for dealer demonstrator cars. There were no customer ordered speed control cars.
I do not know why this was. Possibly there were some problems with the system or supply problems. No question that Ford never recovered the engineering and development cost on this option in 67.

[krelboyne]

Mustang by the numbers says that there were 17 hardtops, 20 fastbacks and 18 convertibles for a total of 55 1967 Mustangs with the speed control option.

It is my understanding that these 55 cars were all produced by Ford for dealer demonstrator cars. There were no customer ordered speed control cars.
I do not know why this was. Possibly there were some problems with the system or supply problems. No question that Ford never recovered the engineering and development cost on this option in 67.

Additionally, there were a total of 665 1967 Mercury Cougars with the speed control option.

[67gtasanjose]

Additionally, there were a total of 665 1967 Mercury Cougars with the speed control option.

So, statistically speaking a business that perhaps specializes in Early Cougars, may have more likely seen the various FACTORY Installed systems (across the model year) and may, or may not have, some light to shed onto this "POSSIBLE" factory installed EARLY (September '66) Mustang system.

btw, a few photos of Factory Installed 1967 Speed Control Systems would be worth a thousand words...

[krelboyne]

This is Cougar 00001 with the owner Jim Pinkerton.


Towards the end of the video you get a quick glimpse of the installed unit. Additionally it shows the ultra rare 1967 steering column wiring cover.

[67gtasanjose]

This is Cougar 00001 with the owner Jim Pinkerton.


Towards the end of the video you get a quick glimpse of the installed unit. Additionally it shows the ultra rare 1967 steering column wiring cover.

The video of Cougar 00001 suggests that the center-mounted Speed Control servo (O.P's question) would NOT be the usual location for an early car either.

[J_Speegle]

I had one of the kits at one point bought it because no one wanted 67 and up parts locally. Can't recall which supplier it was but I might still have copies of the installation instructions - think I made copies before I sold the kit to a flipper. Believe that the location might be a feature of where things mounted as much or more than early verses late.

Think I should have a picture or two of some Cougar installs. At least pieces and parts of what was left by the time I got to them. Do have a servo/motor for one I ran across the other day.  Not a popular option on what was sold as a city or performance car.

[67gtasanjose]

I had one of the kits at one point bought it because no one wanted 67 and up parts locally. Can't recall which supplier it was but I might still have copies of the installation instructions - think I made copies before I sold the kit to a flipper. Believe that the location might be a feature of where things mounted as much or more than early verses late.

Think I should have a picture or two of some Cougar installs. At least pieces and parts of what was left by the time I got to them. Do have a servo/motor for one I ran across the other day.  Not a popular option on what was sold as a city or performance car.

I was also thinking other Ford Cars that year, or a range backwards a few years perhaps, that the Ford Big Cars had a center-mount unit and if perhaps a Dealer had a "Dealer Kit" on hand, would probably be able to fit it to a small block or even straight-6 car. Just a possibility.  (if by chance any of the car's owner(s) had it installed at any point)

[196667Bob]

A little background first. The Speed Control for Mustangs was offered both as a RPO (Factory Option) and as an Accessory. The RPO listed for $71.30, and the Accessory Kit for $69.65, not including Installation of course.
The Kit shown in the 1967 MPC (dated January 1967) is Part No. C7ZZ-9A818-A, with no mention as to manufacturer. However, in the 1960-68 MPC (appropriate page dated February 1968) it now shows the Part No. as C7ZZ-9A818-B, and also notes "Perfect Circle". A further look at the OSI Catalog from July, 1967, shows that the C7ZZ-9A818-A was R/B (Replaced By) C7ZZ-9A818-B. Based on this, it can be said that the Perfect Circle showed up sometime between January and July of 1967. I also checked my TSB's from September of 1966 until the 1968 Model year, and found no reference to the Speed Control for Mustangs, or for any other 1967 Model. Possibly the change was addressed in one of Ford's "Special Service Letters" ?

Finally, I am attaching a pdf from my 11 x 17 "1967 Ford Wiring Diagram Book" that shows the Mustang Speed Control setup. Now we know that one cannot take Ford Illustrations as "Gospel", but the illustration does appear to show the servo unit mounted toward the middle of the firewall, as 67gta noted.

That's about all I can offer.

Bob

[67gta]

Finally, I am attaching a pdf from my 11 x 17 "1967 Ford Wiring Diagram Book" that shows the Mustang Speed Control setup. Now we know that one cannot take Ford Illustrations as "Gospel", but the illustration does appear to show the servo unit mounted toward the middle of the firewall, as 67gta noted.

That's about all I can offer.

Bob

Thanks everyone for the input. This drawing matches where this car has the control/servo unit mounted. The 67 shop manual in the wiring diagram section shows wiring for the Curtiss-Wright and the Perfect Circle unit. In the 68 manual only the Perfect-Circle is shown. I haven't looked yet but an email said in the 67 manual section 'Speed Control' shows two turn signal levers with the 68 manual only one. Another email from a low number 67 Cougar owner says that it's servo is also mounted on the firewall and it has A/C.

[mtinkham]

How did the system monitor vehicle speed? Was there a sensor that monitored something and tripped the holding relay? Possibly a different speedometer cable? Vacuum? Spark - similar to a tachometer?

Aside from the body lines and history, what we like about our Mustangs is their simplicity. Monitoring vehicle speed with the supplied mechanical systems (unless it was monitoring spark) must have been quite complicated.

[J_Speegle]

You might want to check the library section for the installation instructions from one of the dealer installed kits and from Ford for service trouble shooting of the systems. Believe there were two suppliers so there were a few differences in how everything mounted and looked

Listed in the 67 Section under

- 67 Dealer Installed Speed (Cruise) Control Instructions
67 Speed Control Installation Instructions