Topic: clarification on sheet metal stamp dates

[evantugby]

Gents,
I documented several sheet metal stamps on my kar. Here is what I found.

Radiator support stamp on left side: 10 27 D3
Passenger side apron connecting to cowl: 10 22 D3

Short angled frame support connecting frame rail to radiator support panel: 10 18 D3 and the other one shows 10 31 D3

Driver side vin-stamped apron: 10 22 D2

My kar was scheduled for build on 23 Oct 1965 based on the door tag info of "23K"

Question: looking at the date stamps on several panels, would it be safe to assume that my kar was built several days/weeks after the scheduled build date of 23 Oct 65?


 

[carlite65]

imo you are correct. 23K was just a 'best guess' for planning purposes.

[evantugby]

Thanks carlite,
Follow up question: Does the radiator support come in one or two pieces? I found another date stamp on the passenger side as well but couldn't make out the date due to it being lightly stamped. 

My assumption is that the radiator support would have been one piece so why the two date stamps?

[CharlesTurner]

As Fred mentioned, the date on your door tag is simply a 'scheduled build date'.  The actual build date of the car can be off by days/weeks before or after.  It all had to do with parts inventories/availability.

The rad support is one piece, but it attaches to the lower cross member.  Use a light and trace the outline.

[J_Speegle]

Question: looking at the date stamps on several panels, would it be safe to assume that my kar was built several days/weeks after the scheduled build date of 23 Oct 65?

Yes certainly the plant missed when they guessed it would be completed on Oct 23rd. But at least the order and the approximate date gave others an idea of how many cars, options and such to plan on for around that time period. Looks like your car was more likely an early to mid November built car

[rocket289k]

Since it's a NJ built (Metuchen) car if you had the Buck Tag - you'd know the date the body was bucked (aka unibody started to be welded together).

Regards,


Ron

[evantugby]

Buck Tag shows

C/O 670
13 L4 6T09K134680
63A Z 26
4 SPEED HP PIO

I know what PIO means thanks to Jeff. 

[CharlesTurner]

c/o is thought to mean 'customer order', but I don't believe the Ford assembly plant would care one way or the other enough to mark a bucktag with information like that.  The intent of the bucktag was to ID the car and options, but also to ID options that required some type of modification to the basic unibody.

13 is the welding bay
L4 is the date the car was bucked, November 4th
4 SPEED was on the buck tag since an additional hole was needed on the toe panel riser for the speedometer clip
HP for the choke cable hole in the firewall
PIO for the GT options, which included different dual exhaust reinforcements in the rear, plus holes in the rad support for fog light wiring.  Maybe also includes the hole for the proportioning valve mount.

[CharlesTurner]

Concerning 'c/o'.  The other codes there would be 'D'.  So, some say 'customer order' or 'dealer order'.  Pretty much all cars would be ordered by a dealer, so it doesn't really make any sense.  I've correlated original order sheets with buck tags and they don't always match up with 'Retail' or 'Stock' order type.  It could have something to do with deviations from the basic unibody.  Kevin Marti notes in his Tagbook that the codes were internal, but doesn't state what they mean.