Topic: Part #s on Fenders

[ceswert]

I was just informed by my 71 Mach 1 restorer that the front fenders have a FoMoCo part number and a build date of 1977. He checked this anomaly out with a friend who had worked at a Ford, Lincoln, Mercury dealership back in the 70's. He said that Ford recalled the original fenders from 1971-73 models due to premature rusting. Where can I find this information to corroborate?

[J_Speegle]

Never heard of the recall and of course if they were replaced and repainted as a result of the recall they would not be original to your car. Since we don't have a year when the recall was made its a long shot but you might try a Yahoo or Goggle search with the key words.


One clue (well maybe) is that if both of your fenders have the same 77 date code you might want to look at that period also. Unfortunately I don't have any documentation or books that new 

[ceswert]

Thanks Jeff. Merry Christmas!

[7Lscjracer]

I would like to know how to decode the numbers on the fenders of a convertible built April 73 that I looked at yesterday please.
The passenger side example is pretty clear, but the driver side isn't.
The owner says it's an all original sheet metal car, and it certainly is rust free, so a recall replacement would explain why the fenders have no wheel lip molding screw holes while the rear quarters do.
The fenders would have to be so bad that they rusted even with exceptional care while the rest of the car remained unblemished though.
Dirt and moisture trapping wheel lip moldings would exacerbate a bad fenders problem.
Perhaps the rear moldings were removed as a preventative measure if the fronts took the blame for the fender rusting problem.
I can speculate all day, but it comes down to the date codes on these fenders, or at least the legible one.
The Marti report for the car hasn't arrived yet.

[carlite65]

date codes. second pic is june 25 cleveland stamping plant 3rd shift.

[7Lscjracer]

Thanks Carlite65, the cars build predates that stamping date, so that particular fender is not original to the car then.
Where would I find a stamping to denote the year of manufacture?

[carlite65]

you won't. the year was not stamped.

[krelboyne]

If the body panel has red oxide primer and a yellow/white stenciled Ford part number, it is almost always a service replacement panel.

[J_Speegle]

If the body panel has red oxide primer and a yellow/white stenciled Ford part number, it is almost always a service replacement panel.

+1  service replacements

[7Lscjracer]

you won't. the year was not stamped.

So how did your body shop conclude your fenders were from 1977?

[ceswert]

Excellent question. I'll look into it.

[ceswert]

Regarding the date coding, the fenders were replaced in 1977 and they did have a date code. What is really interesting is the
FoMoCo part number and date code were stenciled onto the fender. The original stamping was removed when the fender was media blasted on the inside. 

[J_Speegle]

Regarding the date coding, the fenders were replaced in 1977 and they did have a date code. What is really interesting is the
FoMoCo part number and date code were stenciled onto the fender........

Typical of service replacement fenders especially the red oxide ones