Serial number question

[73 Mach 1 4 me]

I have a question about the sequential part of the serial numbers for our years. Say for example ford starts the mustang for 1973 do they start out with 000001 or do they start with 100001. My 1973 was produced in September of 1972 from what I remember the model year switched to the new models around august or September. My sequential number is 124xxx does that mean there were 124000 mustangs produced before mine or 124000 fords of all models???!??

 

[midlife]

I believe they started with 100000.

 

[73 Mach 1 4 me]

I believe they started with 100000.

That’s what I was thinking

 

[Hemikiller]

Fords all start at 100000, Mercury at 500000 and Lincoln at 800000

All 73 Mustangs were produced at the Dearborn plant, which built Mustangs and Cougars. Your car was the 24,xxx th Ford car serialized at Dearborn. Vehicles were not necessarily built in unit number sequence.

 

[73 Mach 1 4 me]

So my car was the 24xxx mustang or would there be some cougars mixed in between 100001 and my car

 

[Hemikiller]

So my car was the 24xxx mustang or would there be some cougars mixed in between 100001 and my car

Mustangs and Cougars were serialized independent of each other.

 

[BUCKWHEAT]

So my car was the 24xxx mustang or would there be some cougars mixed in between 100001 and my car

I think your car is the 24xxxth Ford built, not solely Mustangs. It would not include any Mercury cars.

 

[Aris]

So... My -73 Mustang numbers are 242388 manufacture date 05/73, does this mean that over 142 k Mustangs were build before my one?

 

[73 Mach 1 4 me]

So... My -73 Mustang numbers are 242388 manufacture date 05/73, does this mean that over 142 k Mustangs were build before my one?

Your answer is in the above replies, according to the information I found there were 134867 mustangs produced for the 1973 year

 

[secluff]

As Hemikiller posted, Ford did not build these cars in a consecutive serial number sequence. For years, most people I talked to thought the last six of the Vin was the absolute order in which Ford built a car. A Vin was assigned not long after the dealer submitted the order to Ford. That way, the dealer code, Vin, and order number help identify the vehicle, and steps are taken to source whatever is needed from Ford vendors and Ford sub-assembly plants. Some vehicles would be "Bucked" (The start of the assembly process) the next day, others days or weeks later. Mustangs, Cougars, Mavericks, and Comets were built at Dearborn during this time frame, so there was very little chance of any actual numeric assembly sequence. Although the Comets and Cougars didn't affect the Ford serial numbers, they did help spread out the production date of all vehicles there. Retail orders had priority over dealer stock orders, and supplier constraints helped juggle the numbers even more. Special order paint and non-RPO items would result in the vehicle being removed from the assembly line. Some DSO orders would require a sublet to an outside vendor or extra time at the paint or body shop.
I hope this helps clarify why the serial numbers seem to exceed the number of '73 Mustangs built.

 

[73 Mach 1 4 me]

As Hemikiller posted, Ford did not build these cars in a consecutive serial number sequence. For years, most people I talked to thought the last six of the Vin was the absolute order in which Ford built a car. A Vin was assigned not long after the dealer submitted the order to Ford. That way, the dealer code, Vin, and order number help identify the vehicle, and steps are taken to source whatever is needed from Ford vendors and Ford sub-assembly plants. Some vehicles would "Bucked" (The start of the assembly process) the next day, others days or weeks later. Mustangs, Cougars, Mavericks, and Comets were built at Dearborn during this time frame, so there was very little chance of any actual numeric assembly sequence. Although the Comets and Cougars didn't affect the Ford serial numbers, they did help spread out the production date of all vehicles there. Retail orders had priority over dealer stock orders, and supplier constraints helped juggle the numbers even more. Special order paint and non-RPO items would result in the vehicle being removed from the assembly line. Some DSO orders would require a sublet to an outside vendor or extra time at the paint or body shop.
I hope this helps clarify why the serial seems to exceed the number of '73 Mustangs built.

Thanks for the information, I always thought the sequential numbers were the order they were built in. Now I no longer have to wonder about that. With that information clarified I can now wonder about the really important stuff like why do we park in driveways and drive on parkways lol .

 

[rio1856]

Remember, with Ford during vehicle production, short of a nuclear bomb attack, the assembly line never stopped.