Topic: 1965 GT Standard Interior with Woodgrain Dash, Glove Box and Steering Wheel

[rocket289k]

Hi everyone,

I have a late July build (July 21, 1965) Metuchen built GT with a standard black interior.  However, the car has a woodgrain dash cluster, woodgrain glove box door and a woodgrain steering wheel.  As an added note the short console (to accommodate the AC) is the standard camera case black.  To the best that I can determine the dash, glove box door and steering wheel are original to the car.  The gauge cluster has a June 1965 stamp that would be in line with the July 1965 build date of the car. Has anyone seen anything like this?

As a result I have 2 theories:

• Perhaps the plant was out of the standard GT dash cluster (given it was very close to the end of the model year and the 1966 dash cluster with gauges was different) so they substituted the woodgrain dash and glove box door.
• Perhaps it was possible to order the wood grain dash cluster, glove box door and steering wheel without ordering the Pony Interior

Regards,

Ron

[NEFaurora]

Just out of Curiosity, Since your car is such a late build, What color is your Dataplate? Black or Grey?? What color is your car?

I seriously doubt it, Someone probably just added the woodgrain to the car.. The kits have been available for years.. I would change everything back to Black Camera Case.  I'm sure that it all came that way.   I've had a couple cars where someone just slapped on the woodgrain and it totally looked out of place..  I would be money that - that is the same case here.

Tony K.

[C5ZZKGT]

Just out of Curiosity, Since your car is such a late build, What color is your Dataplate? Black or Grey?? What color is your car?

I seriously doubt it, Someone probably just added the woodgrain to the car.. The kits have been available for years.. I would change everything back to Black Camera Case.  I'm sure that it all came that way.   I've had a couple cars where someone just slapped on the woodgrain and it totally looked out of place..  I would be money that - that is the same case here.

Tony K.

+1  execpt I believe the woodgrain steering wheel was a stand alone option after the inception of the DeLuxe "Pony" interior in about April of 1965...

[CharlesTurner]

I had a '65 GT convertible, late May '65 Dearborn car that had the same thing.  I have never found any documentation to prove that it was possible to order the car this way, so I simply concluded that the items were owner or dealer added.  The only piece that would have been a stand-alone option would have been the wood grain steering wheel.

My recommendation to you would be to keep the wood grain steering wheel, but install the proper camera case instrument cluster bezel and glove box door.

[rocket289k]

Hi Guys,

In answer to some of the questions.  The dataplate on the door is grey (not black).  The color of the car is code "J" Rangoon Red. 

I tend to believe if the change was made anywhere it was at the dealer when brand new (if adding them at the factory is completely unplausible) as the pieces are vintage Ford (not reproductions) and have no evidence of a woodgrain decal just being applied to otherwise camera case black pieces.  Based on what I've been able to determine the dash cluster and the glove box door are as old as the car.  In addition, when I replaced the lens for dash the screws on the casing were really tight with no indication that they'd ever been loosened before (e.g. no pressure marks on the left hand side of the screw that would indicate someone had tried to loosen factory tight screws before).  At the end of the day - without any concrete evidence / documentation it's all conjecture. 

The car is extremely well optioned - the only options that it's missing are:

- Pony Interior
- Emergency Flashers
- Backup Lamps
- Deluxe Retractable Front Seat Belts
- Rear Seat Belts
- Limited Slip Differential

Other than that she's loaded with options:

- Factory GT (PIO on Buck Tag)
- A/C
- Console
- High Profile Rally Pack (May 1965 dates on the tach and clock) - not sure why it's not a low profile version
- Fully tinted windows (original carlite Sun-X glass throughout)
- Styled Steel Wheels (not repro - riveted like OEM with the correct conical lugnuts)
- Automatic
- Day / Light Mirror and 2 Speed Wipers (but curiously no remote control mirror which would have been part of the Visibility Group) - another oddity I personally haven't seen before
- AM Radio
- Power Steering


Ron

[CharlesTurner]

Keep in mind that the instrument cluster bezel for a std. '65 GT car is exactly the same as the deluxe interior piece.  Some think that the std. is actually molded in camera case, but for '65, there were black camera case stick-on inserts.  So, the shell is exactly the same, just different inserts.

The gray warranty plate is of no significance as it was normally used during that time in production.

Do you have any original documentation like a window sticker or invoice that shows how the car was ordered/sold?  Without something like this, there really is no way to prove that the rally-pac was factory installed or if the dealer installed the wood grain dash parts.  Keep in mind that even if they were installed when the car was 5 years old, that was about 43 years ago.  It wouldn't be unreasonable for someone with a steady hand and attention to detail couldn't have swapped out the bezel and for it to appear as original all these years later.

[J_Speegle]

I tend to believe if the change was made anywhere it was at the dealer when brand new (if adding them at the factory is completely unplausible) as the pieces are vintage Ford (not reproductions) and have no evidence of a woodgrain decal just being applied to otherwise camera case black pieces.

Consider that there are hundreds if not a thousand cars who's early owners (early 70's made these changes to up grade their cars all using original parts out of donor cars since no reproductions were available. I had to use T bird rear seat material out of a donor car to change a 66 fastback over to pony (black to blue) since no material was being made for that body style. IF found today the material would have the factory markings and date codes confusing the issue


Agree this is most likely just another car that has been modified to some ones personal tastes

The old wives tale of the factory running out of parts is just that most of the time IMHO. There were many employees responsible for making sure that the parts were there before the car was started in  the build process. Factory managers described the same (parts in place before we started particular models) or the order waited. Longest wait I've seen  documented was over 6  months between customer order taken and completed.

[rocket289k]

Consider that there are hundreds if not a thousand cars who's early owners (early 70's made these changes to up grade their cars all using original parts out of donor cars since no reproductions were available. I had to use T bird rear seat material out of a donor car to change a 66 fastback over to pony (black to blue) since no material was being made for that body style. IF found today the material would have the factory markings and date codes confusing the issue


Agree this is most likely just another car that has been modified to some ones personal tastes

The old wives tale of the factory running out of parts is just that most of the time IMHO. There were many employees responsible for making sure that the parts were there before the car was started in  the build process. Factory managers described the same (parts in place before we started particular models) or the order waited. Longest wait I've seen  documented was over 6  months between customer order taken and completed.

+1 Agreed - bottomline without documentation we'll never really know.  If that's the case with my car (early 70s owner making mods) then someone was able to find original parts that had dates well within the expected range for the manufacture date of the car which is either a crazy awesome coincidence or something else all together. (e.g. a June stamped dash for a July build car / May stamped rally pac components for a July built car).  Nothing solves this debate except a time machine or original owner documentation.  :-)

Thanks for everyone's feedback.

Ron

[CharlesTurner]

I don't think I have ever seen a date marking on the instrument cluster bezel.  The early deluxe/GT style have white plastic showing on the back.  Seen a date stamp on the back of the metal housing, that's about it.

The rally-pac doesn't bother me either way, but there are plenty of examples of low profile rally-pac's being used with 5 dial clusters from that time period.  Although, something like a rally-pac, I could see a mistake here and there in production.  The most likely reason the rally-pac is there is it was dealer-installed or possibly the original owner had it installed when the car was new.

[rocket289k]

Keep in mind that the instrument cluster bezel for a std. '65 GT car is exactly the same as the deluxe interior piece.  Some think that the std. is actually molded in camera case, but for '65, there were black camera case stick-on inserts.  So, the shell is exactly the same, just different inserts.

The gray warranty plate is of no significance as it was normally used during that time in production.

Do you have any original documentation like a window sticker or invoice that shows how the car was ordered/sold?  Without something like this, there really is no way to prove that the rally-pac was factory installed or if the dealer installed the wood grain dash parts.  Keep in mind that even if they were installed when the car was 5 years old, that was about 43 years ago.  It wouldn't be unreasonable for someone with a steady hand and attention to detail couldn't have swapped out the bezel and for it to appear as original all these years later.

Agreed Charles - Unfortunately, I don't have the window sticker or original invoice that shows how the car was ordered/sold.  Hence I'll never really know the true story.

I believe the Rally Pac is original to the car (based on the decoding of the build sheet I've been able to perform).  I found the build sheet wrapped around the main wiring harness under the dash.

Regarding swapping out the bezel - if that's what happened someone did an excellent job.  Regarding the instrument cluster bezel I wasn't aware that camera case finish was actually an decal/insert for the 1965 GT version as well (I learned something new today- thanks Charles).  My bezel's woodgrain insert is lifting slightly in one corner so I carefully took a peak and it shows no sign of any camera case.  So it appears that my instrument cluster bezel was always woodgrain (not woodgrain over camera case or removed camera case which I'd suspect would have left a residue).

As always I really appreciate everyone's input today.

[fast66]

Also learned something today (camera case sticker) and I think many of us did:-)
A question that comes to mind is were there a sticker to the glove box door as well (65 GT camera case)?
br
Claes

[CharlesTurner]

Also learned something today (camera case sticker) and I think many of us did:-)
A question that comes to mind is were there a sticker to the glove box door as well (65 GT camera case)?
br
Claes

The glove box door actually was molded in camera case, which is probably where the confusion lies.  For deluxe interior, a metal backed wood-grain piece was glued on top of the camera case.  So, any wood-grain glove box door can have the applique removed and it will be correct for a std. interior '65 GT.

[fast66]

Thanks !!
Claes