Date Code Parts

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My 66 fastback has all original sheet metal and paint as I can figure. The front lower pan as well as the rear lower pan have dents. Are these parts date coded? I think I should fix them and save as much original paint as I can. I would like opinions on this. Thanks in advance. Les

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Yes, all sheet metal parts are dated, as well as bumpers and almost everything else on the car!

The tricky thing is knowing the difference between original Ford sheet metal date stamps and some of the later Ford service replacement part date stamps. The original sheet metal should be stamped like "5 14 D2", whereas you may find a Ford NOS part with "A 65". For most owners and cars, this is not a big deal, but if you want a real numbers matching car, then you'll want to pay attention to these kinds of details.

Edited by - caspian65 on 07/03/2007 07:12:35

Rear valence: Top middle, reverse stamped so you can't see it very well from the front

Front valence: Top, over to the driver side on one of the tabs

Rock panel: On top, usually driver side, reverse stamped

Grille support: Bottom

Hood: Driver side back by the hood hinge, reverse stamped

Trunk lid: Usually stamped in 2 places, bottom edge underneath and along one of the ribs, bottom edge is top stamped, rib is reverse stamped

Doors: Stamped inside behind the door panel for the inner piece and the outer skin is stamped close to where the vent window attaches, where you can't see once it goes in.

Pot metal parts: sometimes are hard to tell, may have a circle with numbers and a pointer to the date code

All other welded sheet metal that makes up the unibody will have a date stamp on it somewhere. This includes inner fenders, quarter panels, cowl panels, etc...

I resurfaced the rear drums on my june 64 dearborn k coupe today and noticed they had fomoco cast on them ,i looked closer and found date codes that read 4 F next to the rim on each drum ,made my day.

Edited by - chucks302 on 07/05/2007 18:32:18