Since I've been asked to research the approximate (since we don't know the actually build dates) change over date/period where San Jose changed from the round hood bumper with the visible Phillips head in the top to the fully covered rubber style used for many years later. Will add pictures and survey results in the days to come. Invite any others to share what their original unrestored came with. As always we need at least partial VIN and the projected build date if available. Focusing in this thread on San Jose only
Early Style With Visible Phillips Head Take notice that originally there was a series of letters and numbers molded in the top edge of the bumper. Currently don't understand the meaning of the markings
Later Smooth Style Take notice of the small raised dot at the center of the bumper and the fact that there originally was a series of letters and numbers visible
On 65 Shelby's the hood bumpers had to be removed during the conversion so that hood pins could be installed in the same bracket that the round hood bumpers used on the Mustang. After the first few cars these removed hood bumpers replaced the forward most fender bolt so that the hood had addition cushioning and allowed for more adjustment as to how the hood fit the fenders and headlight buckets at the front edges. Because of this the running change of the hood bumpers affects what is found on the Shelby also at the same production period.
So did a survey and the following is what I came up with. As a reminder - cars were not built in sequential (by VIN) order so 5R08A156874 could have been built weeks before 5R07T136693. Because of this and we don't have access to any Ford records that recorded when each car was completed we will likely never know exactly what day or week changes took place only a production period - within weeks or a month hopefully when we research 64-66 built cars at any plant.
Fine details
- Lowest VIN I found with the round later style hood bumpers is - 5R21416x - With a projected build date of April 29, 65
- Highest VIN I found with the early style hood bumpers with the visible Phillips head is - 5R214162x - With a projected build date of April 26, 65
Hope this helps those who may need to make a choice while restoring their cars have some documentation and support for their choices
A related thread discussing all three plants
https://www.concoursmustang.com/forum/index.php?topic=15239.msg95060#msg95060
