Along with my 1960 F-100, I have a 1978 Trans Am which I restored over 3 years. There's a company out there for Pontiacs (Pontiac Historical Services) which you can send your VIN and in return receive a copy of the original build sheet and window sticker for your car. Does such a service exits for Ford trucks?

My 1960 F-100 has been in the family since new, but it would be neat to have a copy of the original build sheet and find out what dealership it was purchased from.

 

The only American manufacturer that I know keeps such records is Pontiac. I've also read that post war Dodge Power Wagons have a similar service through Chrysler. Those of us with Brit cars also benefit from the British Motor Industry Heritage Trust Museum that keeps similar records on almost all Brit makes. The only Ford source I've heard of is the Marte Report, but that might be spelled wrong. You usually hear this mentioned in relationship to Shelby and Boss Mustangs. It's a service that verifies date codes and options rather than a factory based service like you have with Pontiac. Stu

 

The marti reports that ford mustangs use are good for cars after 1962 I believe, I have contacted marti about this. They told me the records ford pre 1962 years were not available through ford when they purchased all the records. There is a goverment agency that has records of vins and and dealer the car was shipped to. The agency is only open to law enforcement and you must have some seious pull to access them, its NGS or something like that. I was told the agency doesn't have records past 1964. Ford motor company can decode the vin, but that you already know. Hope this helps,

 

Martiauto.com / According to their website, they only have 1967 and later info.

2many56s: The Mustang was introduced to the public on 4/17/64 at the NY World's Fair, went on sale worldwide on 4/23/1964.

Historical info: Try the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn.

 

Do you honestly feel the need to correct every post I make big dummy? The marti reports are used by alot of mustangs, but can be purchased for big cars as well. I hope I'm alot clearer.

 

I was not aware I was correcting all your posts.

Peeps on FTE are not always aware of facts, which are..

There were no Mustangs sold before 1964, and Marti (who I know personally) does not have info for anything prior to 1967.

In the late 1980's, Ford was going to toss all this info away, he heard about it...bought it all from Ford.

 

It`s a clarification which is a good thing.....

 

Ok so this is the perfect time to ask the man in the know this long debated question:

Since normal model year realeases usually occured somehwere in September of the previous year (ie 64 models were normally first sold in Sept of 1963).........Were the first Mustangs sold (in 4/23/64) correctly called 1964 1/2 or 1965 Mustangs?

I've always called them 64.5s - seems to be some debate!

Whats the true word oh Great One?

Julie

 

Ford always refered to the Mustangs sold beginning April 23, 1964 as 1965's.

Mustang nuts call these cars 1964 1/2's to differentiate them from cars sold after 8/23/64, as changes were made.

Alternators were installed, the horn and horn ring are different, the turn signal switch is different, the front fender Mustang nameplates are 1/2" longer, fastbacks were introduced, the 170 I-6 and 260 V8 engines were dropped, the two 289 blocks (HiPo, non HiPo) changed. The earlier 289's have a 5 bolt bell housing, the later 289's have 6. The timing cover and waterpump are different.

Ford has a history of introducing vehicles early.

Coupla examples:

There is no 1968 Econoline. Introduced February 1968, Ford called them 1969's.

1970 Maverick's were introduced early summer 1969.

1969 Mark III's were introduced spring 1968.

1983 Ranger pickups were introduced spring 1982.

1963 fastback Galaxies were introduced midyear 1963, Ford refered to these as 1963 1/2's.

 

Hope this doesn't hurt your (or anyone's) feelings, but I kinda like NumberDummy's posts. Take it for what my lowly opinion is worth, but to me, the comments of ND are just facts, pure and simple. ND chimes in where he can and from what I have seen he isn't making in personal (unless I missed it?) NumberDummy posts to me are kind of like taking a break in a conversation and going to look up the answer in a encyclopedia or google, just for reference, and then you return back to the conversation and go from there...maybe you like what you found, maybe it confirmed what you already knew, maybe it shed more light or maybe it just seemed like useless info...

A ford fact is a ford fact, but we all (including ND) know there are exceptions and deviations to the "rule"...that is where all of the "rest of us" come in to give our own experiences and input. That is why this forum is cool. It doesn't mean your answer was wrong or needs corrected and I feel that ND is not doing it on purpose to be smug or trying to make any of us seem less knowledgable. Ya gotta admit, Dude does have access to some great knowledge though!

I ask questions on FTE hoping to get multiple answers and am greatful for ALL of them!

Sorry for the OT, just wanted to put it out there that I welcome Number Dummy and his mostly boring, sometimes interesting info!

 

So in actuality, you could have a "real" 65 (that had the changes you mentioned) sitting next to an "early" 65 and they would truly be different vehicles!

That's very interesting.

J!

 

Bill nailed it!
One more small difference between the early and late 65 Mustangs was the slight variation in the hood leading edge and front fender extensions. Hardly noticeable till you try to mix and match them...
I`m not that familar with the early model or had one though I did run into a slight problem with using part of the early underhood wiring harness on my later production run 65 fast back.

 

Bill,

Do you know when the '53, '54, '55, 'and '56 trucks came out? When could the public could buy one of these? My grandfather bought my '54 from the dealer on Dec 23, 1954. Were the '55 models out by then?

Thanks! just curious?

 

I forgot about the hood, but since you mentioned it...I recall why Ford changed it.

The following will not fit the early hood.

C5ZZ16856A .. Hood Moulding

The fender extensions are actually part of the headlamp assemblies, and were only sold with the lamps and all the attaching parts.
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Julie: I said the horn and horn ring were different.

I meant to say the steering wheel and the horn ring were different, not the horns themselves.
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To answer Abe's question: new vehicle introduction time was usually September of the previous year.

The 1955 trucks were in the showrooms when you grandfather bought his "leftover 1954" on December 23, 1954.

However, that was not the case for the 1957 truck line.

Because of assembly line problems, the 1957 trucks were not introduced till January 1957, so Ford continued making 1956 trucks to fill the gap thru November 1956.

 

There are some small, to me their boring and insignificant, details that are really hard to recall. I`m so glad I have a later production Mustang so I don`t have to worry about this.