Topic: Retaining clip on passenger side of radiator support 1966 MY, December 1965 Buil

[Building 3]

I was at a judged show this weekend.  I brought my restored 1966 Dearborn convertible with a scheduled December 1965 build date.  The judge noticed the retaining clip on the passenger side of the radiator support, right above the battery. That clip holds some wiring.  He asked me "what about this?"  I told him what it was for and that I was pretty sure I put it back exactly as it was prior to the restoration.  I am not sure he agreed with me as he seemed to believe that clip should not be there. After my car was judged I looked at as many 1964.5-1966 Mustangs as I could find and out of 20+ cars only one had the clip. Coincidentally it had a sheet metal stamping date on the fender of December 30, 1965 which is only a few days after my scheduled build; and it was a Dearborn build. So two December Dearborn, 1965 built cars had this clip but none of the others. Then after the show I logged into the forum and did a search. I found a July 24, 2014 entry on an original car, it said "Shot of passenger side wire loom retaining clip typical location. Purpose (to fix 65 oversight) was to hold the wire loom up off of the battery top surface. The reason it wasn't used on the drivers side normally."  Can anyone shed more light on this retaining clip, for instance, when it went into production and if all plants used or should have used the clip?  Thanks

[jwc66k]

A picture would be helpful.
Jim

[J_Speegle]

First IMHO don't try and determine what is correct by looking at other restored cars at a show.

Allot of times clips and retainers are removed, not replaced, added or simply forgotten about during ownership and restorations

You may have had a judge that was more comfortable or familiar with 65's so the clip looked "out of place"

Yes all plants used them during 1966 production

Short of doing a full survey of all plants all months here are some of the earliest examples I have documentation of (following the three example rule

NJ - 6T09T1023xx (Aug) - 6T07C1044xx (first week of Sept) -6T09C1144xx (third week of Sept)

SJ - 6R07C1032xx (Aug) - 6R09T1076xx (mid Sept) - 6R07C1097xx (mid Sept)

So its easy IMHO to see that both of these plants used the clips on 66 Mustangs built at their plants but on to the plant and year that should be our focus


As for 66 Dearborn I found very few unrestored examples with the clip. Not sure if this suggest that they were used on some cars/ time periods and not during others but looking forward we find that the clip was used during late 65 production at Dearborn and allot more examples found in those files

Findings include Dearborn - unrestored - 6F07C16970x and even back into 65 production at Dearborn with fairly well know car that Mike M owns 5F07C7806xx & 5F08A7275xx. Additional late 65 examples include - 5F07C7396xx - 5F07C7562xx - 5F07C8021xx -




So with what has been offered if you choose to use this research at the next show, during the introduction of the judges and if they don't if there is something different or important that you as the owner would like to offer before they start simply ask them -  "Can I share something you found out during the restoration of your car?"

With this respectful opening offer that the question of the clip and the location has come up in the past, your research it, found the information above and thank them for considering the research then let them move on to judging.

Hope this helps

Don't know if this helps or not, but my car was built in San Jose with a build date of February 10th 1966, it's a HiPo, but it originally had the clip and it was green just as shown in the attached photo...

Jason - haven't found green clips on cars I've got pictures of or ones I've found in person. Only have seen the green on service replacements, and new ones sold today.  Just offering an observation

[J_Speegle]

........................... Maybe Jim can go take a look at his car ?  Brian

Jim has a 66 Dearborn car? 

Think we're getting off track with the San Jose examples

[Morsel]

Jim has a 66 Dearborn car? 

Think we're getting off track with the San Jose examples

Yep, you're correct, was just trying to offer up that my 1966 car had one more than where it was built. Can remove my post easy enough for the future research and searching the forum not to confuse matters...

Now for the green example, you could be correct that it was replaced at some point and that it was a service part, it was just what was on my car when I got it and looked original to the car. I actually found an NOS one that was green in my shops bag of goodies that he's been collecting over the years, so I was excited that we found a match. But I guess the match could be to a service replacement... Easily replaced though, I know he has black ones too...

Thanks,

Jason

[jwc66k]

The clip is not green, that "color" is a sometimes shade of the phosphating process, olive drab being the closest description. It "happens". The clip should still have the black insulation rubber/plastic to prevent wire damage.
From what I remember, that clip was a 66 feature and may be a San Jose only related. It was one of the items brought up in a judging seminar I attended hosted by Jeff, at Bruce C's garage with Rich C in attendance, all MCA Gold Card Judges. That was over 20 years ago. The point made at that seminar is that there are plant peculiar items that show up on cars. This was one of them. It should be documented in the MCA rule book, but there are so many "variations" between plants within a year, as well as difference in early, mid and late production techniques, that it would be impossible to document. To me, that clip is normal for a 66, at least on a San Jose car.
Jim

[Building 3]

Thank you to everyone who replied. I was very sure that I put the clip back as it was originally. I have gotten comments from others about the clip so I was not surprised when I was questioned about it. Thanks for the verification, the production data, and the advice for the next show.