Topic: Fender dates for March 11th Dearborn build

[RichardM68]

I'm trying to be as period correct as possible on my 8F02J166xxx.  The PO used '67 front fenders and I've been trying to source the correct ones. 

I've read on different topics in this, and other forums, "Most of the fender, hood, door panel, type sheet metal of a given day shift was gone in 2 weeks or less" and from a '64 "My coupe has a 'scheduled' build date of June 28, 1964. ALL the sheet metal dates that I found and recorded were stamped '6'. The earliest was 6 4 and latest was 6 20 with the majority around 6 14". 

All that said, is it fair to say my '68 that was Bucked on 03/07/68 and Actually Built on 03/11/68 would have fender date codes between-ish "2 20 Dx" and "3 10 Dx"?  I found a matched set of fenders and the seller sent me some info that conflicts with what my belief is about what the date codes should be.

Thanks,
-Richard

[J_Speegle]

Fender dating IMHO is likely one of the most well defind dating patters I find. Typically not random or all over the place but instead they have a really nice pattern where you can almost (in many cases you can) identify shipments as they arrived at the plant. Will take some time to look at what I have from cars built around the same time and post

[RichardM68]

Excellent!  Thank you Jeff.

-Richard

[J_Speegle]

See that no one else has a 68 Mustang built around March that can offer any date codes. Unfortunate

Looked at what limited information I have and I can only guess at this point since I have very few examples with these dates and people don't tend to take pictures of these small details.  Best I can offer it that the fenders for a car built March 11 68 were possibly dated with January stamped fenders but February fenders would likely go unnoticed

[RichardM68]

Hi,

I figured it would be difficult to find pics with that level of detail.

Thanks for the input.  I'll try to source Jan or Feb fenders.

-Richard

[dkknab]

Here's the driver side fender date code for my 68 Metuchen built car - 3 21 2D

Curious there was no date code on the passenger side inside lip. 

[RichardM68]

Interesting. This supports the "two weeks or less" sheet metal narrative.

Thanks for the information.

-Richard

[jwc66k]

Interesting. This supports the "two weeks or less" sheet metal narrative.

Remember that there was a "devastating" UAW strike against Ford in Oct-Nov 67 that affected some 1968 dates.
Jim