Topic: Early 1964 Dearborn Parking Light Retainer Nuts -

[jwc66k]

Early Mustangs made in Dearborn "may" have had many growing pain differences. This may be one of them. Which of the two types of nuts were used to attach the full circle parking light retainers to the parking light studs? The hex nut (which may also have had an external tooth lock washer used, or a SEMS type, attached lock washer), or 378715-S35, which was specified on the 64 Mustang Electrical Assembly Manual (page 6 , shown as 278715-S35), and used on 65 and 66 Mustangs. The 75 MPC shows 45243-S as a service part.
Note 1: Ford changed from the full circle retainer to the open bottom type sometime in the 64 to 65 transition period. Ref 13220-21.
Note 2: In general, Ford used parts that conducted electricity, grounds in this case, that were of a gold zinc finish, including studs, screws, nuts and washers.
Jim
The second picture "stolen" from a hardware supplier.

[CharlesTurner]

The reason for those early style nuts is that the very first parking light assemblies had only 2 wires.  There was an external brown color ground wire that attached at the inner mounting stud on both sides and the other end attached with a sheet metal screw through the bottom edge of the fender.  The ground wire had 2 eyelet ends.  I'm not sure when the transition was made to the 3 wire parking lights with the ground built in, maybe around May '64 since I know the 64.5 pace car coupe I restored with an April 30th scheduled date had the early 2 wire park lights. 

[jwc66k]

Thanks. That answers a couple of "growing pain" questions. There are some remaining.
- The brown wire had ring lugs from your description. Where did the fender end attach, bottom edge yes - front, center, rear? I'll assume for the time being, that both ring lugs were the same, a number 10, for assembly ease, making the screw a "common" used item.
- Were the nuts used with a separate external tooth lock washer? Or a Sems type?
- What finish hardware did you use, phosphate, clear zinc or gold zinc?
(The following is from the Mustang Production Guide.)
A Dearborn April 30th, 1964 VIN would be around 5F0xe123456.
Pace cars - 5F07F123656 (earliest) 1st of May, 1964.
My notes indicate that the adjustable passenger's seat occurred around VIN 5F0xe129500, May 8, 1964.
(This ought to send 64 owners into a "spin".)
Jim

[DM_1964]

Where did the fender end attach, bottom edge yes - front, center, rear?

Jim, I found these pics in a folder I named 64.5 Oddities

[CharlesTurner]

Jim, I found these pics in a folder I named 64.5 Oddities

That matches what I've seen.  The engineering number cast into those early 2-wire parking lights is the -A version.

I removed 2 hex nuts yesterday from an original 3 18 dated front valence.  The nuts looked like zinc plating, but hard to say for sure.  The original frayed wire was still on the inner stud.  If you'd like more info on the length/ends/markings, let me know.