Topic: Help find build date 1965 A code

[ozmuscleowner]

Hello everybody and thank you all for having me.
A little backstory,
I have in Australia a 1965 A code 4 speed hardtop. Poppy Red, and Bright Red interior. NO power brakes, steer or AC.
The car was found in the Nevada Desert at Pahrump. Allegedly the guy was storing hundreds of Mustangs until he passed and the family sold them. My car was purchased by a gentleman here in Australia to build a race car out of but it never happened. I purchased the car in 2003 and it has been sitting in my garage since. Has not been driven since 1984
Here is what i know and i would love to narrow the build date down better. The original warranty plate is missing and I would like to get an new one through Marti.
The last registration was California 1984 and it was originally sold at Ramona in San Diego at Poway Valley Ford. I have the original black California plate and tags up to 84, and it has a Poway Valley Ford plate frame on it. It also has 73000 miles roughly on odometer.
Vin is 5R07A18405X.... (Not sure if i should list complete number)
Round Heater tubes (so prior to 12Th February 65)
Engine assembly date code 4m16 (16Th Dec 1964?) but its not black the engine is blue possibly been reconditioned at some stage?
Have seen a trail on this forum with 18481X being built on the 9Th of February 65 so i am assuming mine would be approximately 2 days prior. Did they do a 7 day shift in San Hose as i have seen cars dated on a Saturday, and if so perhaps my build date would be the sunday the 7Th. Maybe the Saturday the 6Th?
Car appears to have had a hard time whilst it was being driven in its first 20 years.
Most engine components look original, exhaust appears original, 3 core radiator. Interior looks original with "square scuff plates or door sill plates fitted"
I have looked up a site Early mustang dot com but i cant seem to navigate around it. I am looking to restore this car as close to original as possible.

Thank you for your help
Craig

[J_Speegle]

First welcome to the site. Hope you find the information and support helpful in your projects.

Not sure how much you have studied up on the subject of "build dates" for 64-66 Mustangs so going to have to cover a number of things

The door tag does not show the build date of the car. Only a date the person putting the order into the computer at that specific assembly plant guessed that day. Often just the same or the next day from the last date they entered. We can also guess what date might have been on your original door tag by looking at what cars with VIN's around your car's were assigned.


No one knows what date the car was finished/completed on. On 67 and up Mustangs Ford still has those recorded and most of those owners contact and pay for that information from Kevin Marti the person licensed by Ford to access that information currently and in the past decades

If your looking for info as to what the cars door tag the closest examples from that plant I could find on my computer were

- Example one 5R18413x about 80 cars  (assigned a VIN) from your car with a projected build date of 08B
- Example two 5R18417x about 120 cars (assigned a VIN) from your car with a projected build date of 08B.

I think your example of the 06B date , given the VIN's associated with date, are up to 1100 off. IMHO not a good choice.
So best guess IMHO is going to be 08B or 07B depending on the time of day that 5R18413x was entered into the system, when you cars VIN was assigned (time of day) and we'll never know either one of those.

IF we had one more example built just before your car (very slightly lower sequential number) we could narrow it further

[jwc66k]

For "calculation" purposes, in the month of February, 1965, the Saturdays were numbered 6, 13, 20 and 27. There are a few of those dates that show up as "scheduled" so San Jose was working at least a 6 day week. (Use August 2022 as a "boilerplate" for dates as the first of both months was on a Monday.)
Further, it appears by high VIN to low VIN that 448 cars (models other than Mustangs were built there on the same assembly line) per day were assembled.
Jim

[ozmuscleowner]

Thank you for the information it is greatly appreciated.
From your responses i agree that 7Th or 8Th would be the day to choose to get it close. I really appreciate your help and the time you have taken.
My findings were based on a seller of Mustang cars imported to Australia and sold over the last few decades.
I only researched 1965 models but i have some  date codes here that may help you give information to other people in my same situation.
All of these cars are in Australia now.
17Q 198304
25B 190760
20K 149854
19A 175903
20S 225935
12B 185624
22M 168119
27B 191791 (Saturday)
I hope you can use these for future reference.