Topic: 1967 San Jose 390 Radiator Support to Hood Seal

[Paperback Writer]

The seal on the top of the radiator support of my ’67 390 GTA convertible was attached with screws instead of staples or clips.  The radiator support has never been replaced (in fact, it still has a big “S” and “D” written in grease pen in front of the battery area – presumably to denote the “S” code engine and dual exhaust), and I’m pretty sure the seal itself is original to the car as well.

In addition, the only holes along the top of the support are for the screws - it does not appear that anything was ever stapled to the top of it.

Since the car was a fairly early San Jose big-block car (built in Sept. 1966), is it possible that Ford started off using screws for attaching the seal, and later switched to staples as a cost cutting measure?

Has anybody seen this before?

[Bob Gaines]

Not so much a early late thing as much as a alternitive installation technique maybe when the staple gun was broke or when done at non typical station on the line. At least that is what my observations lead me to believe. Others may have different views.

[ruppstang]

Not so much a early late thing as much as a alternitive installation technique maybe when the staple gun was broke or when done at non typical station on the line. At least that is what my observations lead me to believe. Others may have different views.

+ 1 Marty

[Paperback Writer]

Thanks guys!

[J_Speegle]

The seal on the top of the radiator support of my ’67 390 GTA convertible was attached with screws instead of staples or clips.  The radiator support has never been replaced (in fact, it still has a big “S” and “D” written in grease pen in front of the battery area – presumably to denote the “S” code engine and dual exhaust), and I’m pretty sure the seal itself is original to the car as well.

The marks are pretty typical for a 67 San Jose non-C or A code car. But the "D" is not related to the exhaust IMHO since it appears on everything from 6 cylinders to 390 cars that year.  The marks could be applied (typically) in one of three locations dependent on (likely IMHO) on the worker that applied them and the shift.

In addition, the only holes along the top of the support are for the screws - it does not appear that anything was ever stapled to the top of it.

Looking at a fair number of other 67 San Jose cars I've only found a couple retained by screws and they were not built around the same period as yours. Agree that the method (screws) might be a result of the staple machine being unavailable at the time your car was being assembled. Something we see at other plants/years that has resulted in non-typical installation practices

[J_Speegle]

Regarding the "D" written on my radiator support... since you say you've seen this on non-dual exhaust cars as well, have you seen any correlation between the other cars that had the"D" and their interiors?  My car is a 76B, so I'm now wondering/speculating if this might have been used to indicate that the car had the Interior Decor option - with the "D" presumably representing Decor or Deluxe...

The "D" has nothing IMHO to do with the interior and was added after the body and trim part of the assembly. Feel pretty confident of this since it's found on every 67-8 San Jose car I've seen (when we can find these marks) with no correlation to interior. Also consider (according to line managers who developed many of the codes) that they sometime choose a letter that was not the first letter of the word. As far as I can tell the "D" might just indicate something was "done"   

Also - I was at a car show in Oregon this past weekend and found a '68 coupe (also built in San Jose) that used screws as well, so I guess there's really no pattern to when and why they used this method of attachment...

Since (it appears) that the workers at San Jose in 67 and 68 may have used the screws when the stapler could not be used (broken) then the pattern would be random. Also consider that if adding the seal to a car originally without on, would be the easiest for a home restorer and since NJ cars (in the form of 68 Shelby's) would be the cars most likely seen in national magazines and so would use those pictures to assume that their 68 would use the same method. Just a thought.