Topic: 69 Shelby assembly

[67gta289]

Where were the 69 Shelby's assembled?

[TLea]

Cars were built at Dearborn and converted in Livonia MI
69s were converted to. 70 at Kar Kraft

[Bob Gaines]

Cars were built at Dearborn and converted in Livonia MI
69s were converted to. 70 at Kar Kraft

Just to add to this info is that the name of the Ford subcontractor in Ionia MI was A.O.Smith .

[Engineer]

A.O. Smith in Ionia, Michigan ..... not Livonia, Michigan.

[67gta289]

Thanks. I live in Livonia by the way...we have the Ford transmission plant, the national parts distribution warehouse and Roush but no Shelby history like Ionia.

[TLea]

A.O. Smith in Ionia, Michigan ..... not Livonia, Michigan.

Correct rick, my mistake. Livonia was the corporate offices for Shelby automotive. I drove to address once and it was now a doctors office iirc

[Skyway65]

Cars were built at Dearborn and converted in Livonia MI
69s were converted to. 70 at Kar Kraft

Not knowing much about Shelby's--what do you mean by "69's were converted to 70's"?

[J_Speegle]

Not knowing much about Shelby's--what do you mean by "69's were converted to 70's"?

Short version - and a really strange story (don't know if it has even been done before or since)

Left over, new, unsold 69 Shelby's (lots of drag pak cars) and late production cars were re-serial numbered and sold as 1970 models. Feds over saw the conversion of the 69's being done in the field and some minor updates were done to them to match the 70 features.

If tried today the lawyers and politicians  would surely have a field day

[Bob Gaines]

Short version - and a really strange story (don't know if it has even been done before or since)

Left over, new, unsold 69 Shelby's (lots of drag pak cars) and late production cars were re-serial numbered and sold as 1970 models. Feds over saw the conversion of the 69's being done in the field and some minor updates were done to them to match the 70 features.

If tried today the lawyers and politicians  would surely have a field day

Since the current understanding and belief is a ongoing process ,I submit that I believe the long standing belief that VIN changes were done in the field doesn't appear to have much basis in fact IMO. I think it is another urban legend . I believe that the 70 conversions were all done at Kar Kraft. I don't think there is much if any concrete evidence that a VIN conversion was done in the field .We do have documentation on the other hand of 70 conversions being done at Kar Kraft.  If you think about the logistics of a fed going to every dealership that did a conversion it begins to look like a big enough problem that the feds would say to Ford "forget you" . On the other hand I can easily see the feds insisting on the conversions being done in one place so they can be supervised easily. I believe that the cars still being built as well as the many unsold cars still in the large storage lots were the ones sent back to KAR KRAFT for 70 conversion which consisted of cosmetic as well as emission updates to comply with 70 standards. At least this is my current understanding until different evidence suggest otherwise .   

[Skyway65]

How many cars are we talking about here?  Why not just sell them cheap and move 'em out? Seems like A LOT of messing around.