- Joined
- Jan 7, 2015
- Messages
- 8,032
- Reaction score
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- Location
- Western North Carolina
- My Car
- Multiple Mustangs!
I will head to the garage and look at a couple cars and add maybe more later. You also have the difference between the standard belts and the Deluxe Belt option that was $15.49 on my 73 Mach 1.
As far as production dates go. Ford and all car mfgs. do model change during the July 4th. shut down. The exception is when they did some of the 1/2 year model changes like the 1964 1/2 model Mustang that ran 90 days before the 1965 model came out. Everybody knows the April 17, 1964 SOP for Mustang but there are hundreds of cars made earlier than that date and sold to the public. Some of the very early prototypes have turned up in public hands with hand made parts in the construction.
There are always cars made before the July 4 th. date to prove out the assembly line equipment and for testing and these cars may or may not be sold to the public. Sometimes they crush them and sometimes they give to technical colleges to be used in their automotive classes and yes some got sold to the public or Ford employees. They usually cut the tops off the donated cars so they will never see the street and never have a title.
So if you have a Mustang of any year except the 1964 1/2 that has a production date of June or July that would be an early car. Serial number 00001 1973 Mustang sold on eBay a couple years ago. I wish I had kept a picture of the door tag but did not so we would have the build date. It is also possible to have a car built before Serial # 000001. All car companies go through several different builds on new models or just simple model changes from year to year. I have seen builds that had 200 cars in the build months before the SOP or model change.
Some of the first builds at Ford are called "Screw Builds". They actually have a huge surface plate with what is called a "Buck" in their quality control area. They have fixtures that position the stampings in the correct location and they screw the panels together instead of weld. As a supplier you are required to send a number of panels that have been blued and scribe with the coordinate body lines on the parts and attend the builds. In today's world it is done on a 100 mm grid in 71 - 73 it would still have been inch.
When the panels are placed in the Buck you can quickly view the scribe lines on two different panels and see if the lines meet. This gives you a quick look at how good the panels are and obvious mistakes are found quickly.
Later builds are done on the line as the new equipment is added and you go to spot welding the bodies together. These are sent to durability and testing. Testing starts really early with prototype builds that parts are made from temporary tooling and today laser trimmed.
With all this said I would say an early build would be a car with a June or July build date for a 71 , 72, or 73 model. There are also some changes thrown in mid year for new suppliers or improvements in cost or ease of assembly.
The white 1964 1/2 Mustang convertible in the Henry Ford museum is not the first Mustang built it is the first Mustang to get a production serial number of 00001. There are 64 1/2 mustangs in private hands that have hand made parts in them made months earlier. There is one version of the hood that is like gold for the very early cars that was made in the prototype tooling.
I have been at the assembly plant for early builds and walk the line and watch the assembly and paint then inspect the bodies and watch them go to the crusher out back and get sent to scrap.
As far as production dates go. Ford and all car mfgs. do model change during the July 4th. shut down. The exception is when they did some of the 1/2 year model changes like the 1964 1/2 model Mustang that ran 90 days before the 1965 model came out. Everybody knows the April 17, 1964 SOP for Mustang but there are hundreds of cars made earlier than that date and sold to the public. Some of the very early prototypes have turned up in public hands with hand made parts in the construction.
There are always cars made before the July 4 th. date to prove out the assembly line equipment and for testing and these cars may or may not be sold to the public. Sometimes they crush them and sometimes they give to technical colleges to be used in their automotive classes and yes some got sold to the public or Ford employees. They usually cut the tops off the donated cars so they will never see the street and never have a title.
So if you have a Mustang of any year except the 1964 1/2 that has a production date of June or July that would be an early car. Serial number 00001 1973 Mustang sold on eBay a couple years ago. I wish I had kept a picture of the door tag but did not so we would have the build date. It is also possible to have a car built before Serial # 000001. All car companies go through several different builds on new models or just simple model changes from year to year. I have seen builds that had 200 cars in the build months before the SOP or model change.
Some of the first builds at Ford are called "Screw Builds". They actually have a huge surface plate with what is called a "Buck" in their quality control area. They have fixtures that position the stampings in the correct location and they screw the panels together instead of weld. As a supplier you are required to send a number of panels that have been blued and scribe with the coordinate body lines on the parts and attend the builds. In today's world it is done on a 100 mm grid in 71 - 73 it would still have been inch.
When the panels are placed in the Buck you can quickly view the scribe lines on two different panels and see if the lines meet. This gives you a quick look at how good the panels are and obvious mistakes are found quickly.
Later builds are done on the line as the new equipment is added and you go to spot welding the bodies together. These are sent to durability and testing. Testing starts really early with prototype builds that parts are made from temporary tooling and today laser trimmed.
With all this said I would say an early build would be a car with a June or July build date for a 71 , 72, or 73 model. There are also some changes thrown in mid year for new suppliers or improvements in cost or ease of assembly.
The white 1964 1/2 Mustang convertible in the Henry Ford museum is not the first Mustang built it is the first Mustang to get a production serial number of 00001. There are 64 1/2 mustangs in private hands that have hand made parts in them made months earlier. There is one version of the hood that is like gold for the very early cars that was made in the prototype tooling.
I have been at the assembly plant for early builds and walk the line and watch the assembly and paint then inspect the bodies and watch them go to the crusher out back and get sent to scrap.
