1971 Mach 1, Rare Blue with White. Dealer demo car?

[Carolina_Mountain_Mustangs]

I would look at the speedometer cable attachment to both the instruments and the transmission. People would rent a car then unhook the cable so they did not have to pay for so many miles. Then hook back up when turning in. It might have some different type of connection to the dash or the transmission. Remember the days of the Hurst Rent A Racer? Not that I ever did anything like that.

David

 

[jas280z]

I would look at the speedometer cable attachment to both the instruments and the transmission. People would rent a car then unhook the cable so they did not have to pay for so many miles. Then hook back up when turning in. It might have some different type of connection to the dash or the transmission. Remember the days of the Hurst Rent A Racer? Not that I ever did anything like that.

David

Interesting thought. I will have to take a look, after finding some examples of what the normal connections looked like. Unfortunately, I do not remember those days, they were a little before my time.

 

[Boss1Ray]

Like cobra2572 says they do the model changes over the July 4 holiday, all car companies in U.S. do. There are several builds before that to prove out the new models. Some do not make it to market. I have seen as many as 200 pre-production vehicles made for testing, photo shoots and various engineering tasks. I would think first production would be in late July. It is odd that the prices did not show up on the sticker. They know exactly what their cost are way before production.

When they do first trials on parts they do what is called a screw build and use scribed panels. You have to scribe the body panels with the coordinates for the position in the build. Ford has a big fixture in the quality area they they put the parts into and Screw them together with sheet metal screws. The scribed lines in 100 mm grids show if the panels do not align in X,Y,Z coordinates. Suppliers have to be present for those builds in case there is an issue. Most issues I have seen were with the Ford assembly fixtures not being incorrect.

Great car good info,

David

My 1972 convertible was built July 29th 1972 - 8 days behind schedule.

Possibly one of the last 72's. I do wonder when the last day of production was???

Ray

David,

If they shut down production around the 4th of July - how could they have completed my car???? Check out all the production dates.

Anyone else with a late 72 car????

On another note -

I do know my car received the standard single chrome driver's side mirror instead of dual racing mirrors. Heard it was because of a supply issue at time of production. (no documentation on that)

Ray

 

[Carolina_Mountain_Mustangs]

Like cobra2572 says they do the model changes over the July 4 holiday, all car companies in U.S. do. There are several builds before that to prove out the new models. Some do not make it to market. I have seen as many as 200 pre-production vehicles made for testing, photo shoots and various engineering tasks. I would think first production would be in late July. It is odd that the prices did not show up on the sticker. They know exactly what their cost are way before production.

When they do first trials on parts they do what is called a screw build and use scribed panels. You have to scribe the body panels with the coordinates for the position in the build. Ford has a big fixture in the quality area they they put the parts into and Screw them together with sheet metal screws. The scribed lines in 100 mm grids show if the panels do not align in X,Y,Z coordinates. Suppliers have to be present for those builds in case there is an issue. Most issues I have seen were with the Ford assembly fixtures not being incorrect.

Great car good info,

David

My 1972 convertible was built July 29th 1972 - 8 days behind schedule.

Possibly one of the last 72's. I do wonder when the last day of production was???

Ray

David,

If they shut down production around the 4th of July - how could they have completed my car???? Check out all the production dates.

Anyone else with a late 72 car????

On another note -

I do know my car received the standard single chrome driver's side mirror instead of dual racing mirrors. Heard it was because of a supply issue at time of production. (no documentation on that)

Ray

They are not down much more than a week or two unless major changes to the body shop fixtures. They actually build everything and prove out then take apart and install at the build plant

I have not seen cars of 71-73 years bring any extra for being early builds. The serial number 1 73 Mach 1 sold on eBay last year. I don't remember the price but nothing special. It was actually 00001 on the plate.

David

 

[Bossss351]

Guys hopefully I can clear up your questions regarding the unique speedo cable and why it sat around so long. I have a few Mustangs one of them being a 1970 Mustang Mustang Sportsroof X-rental car. Shortly after purchasing it I changed out the speedo cluster and passenger side panel to the upgraded simulated wood pieces from another car I had. I don't care for the standard camera case finish and since this car is modified changing it didn't bother me. It was tough but eventually was able to do it. Having 23 plus Mustangs over the years along with working and looking at them for over 30yrs I had never seen anything like it. When I got the paperwork a few weeks later it made sense.

Anyways the point of my thread is my Marti Report paperwork says the same thing and came with two Eminger Invoices one from Ford to the dealer and one from the dealer holding company back to the retail side of the operation essentially the rental period of 6 months in my case. The reason for both is it was a rental car hence the fleet order designation and a tamper proof speedo cable so it couldn't easily be disconnected avoiding mileage charges as others have guessed at. It would've been put into service early in the year with the condition that Ford buys it back once a certain time and mileage period have been reached. The term is a buy-back and still occurs today. There are "at- risk" vehicles and "no risk" units. The "Risk" is either assigned to the Mfr or the rental company. No risk cars are sold cheaper but then the rental company is on the hook if there is a loss when it's later sold rather than the Mfr. Do you have an Eminger report on your car?

great car BTW luv Grabber Blue

email me @ [email protected] and I'll send you a copy of my paperwork