Early 64.5 Mustang

CMHawk_old · August 19, 2007 at 7:37 PM

I was at a show earlier today and saw the earliest 64.5 Mustang that I have ever seen. Stock original 64.5 Mustang, 260 engine and 13 inch 5 lug wheels with bias ply tires. Scheduled built date of 31C with all the panels I could see date stamped between March 18 and March 22. Unit number in the VIN is 105735.

VIN indicates car was Detroit. Were they making cars in the end of March 1964? Is this unit number very early?

289route66_old · August 19, 2007 at 8:35 PM

The first car built was 5F07F100001; therefore, the car you saw was the 5,735th car built. Ford had already begun building cars in early March.

CSXEng_old · August 19, 2007 at 8:37 PM

There was a person in our mustang club in Ft Lauderdale that had the first day mustang. March 9th. Vin was 5F08F100212 convertable. It had no heater. I had the honors to work on it.<img src=images/icon_smile_big.gif border=0 align=middle>

Dave V.

Edited by - CSXEng on 08/19/2007 20:39:18

SixT5HiPo · August 19, 2007 at 9:05 PM

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I was at a show earlier today and saw the earliest 64.5 Mustang that I have ever seen...Scheduled built date of 31C with all the panels I could see date stamped between March 18 and March 22. Unit number in the VIN is 105735.

VIN indicates car was Detroit. Were they making cars in the end of March 1964? Is this unit number very early?

Yes, that car was made during the first month of Mustang production.

Aproximately 150 pre-production Mustangs were built before regular Mustang production began in early March of 1964. They were used for advertising and engineering purposes, and were not for sale to the public.

The earliest scheduled build date for a production Mustang is 05C. (The actual day Job One rolled off the line was Monday, March 9th.)At that time, only the Ford Dearborn Assembly Plant built Mustangs, and the San Jose plant was added in July of 1964 because the Mustang sales quickly outstripped the capacity of the Dearborn production lines.

CharlesTurner · August 20, 2007 at 5:38 AM

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The first car built was 5F07F100001; therefore, the car you saw was the 5,735th car built. Ford had already begun building cars in early March.

That's technically not correct, the 105735 car was more simply the 5,735th car assigned a VIN. Due to scheduling/batching, it is very unlikely that this car was actually the 5,735th Mustang built. When an order was received from a dealer, a VIN was assigned and the date set that the car was scheduled to be built.

round2K_old · August 20, 2007 at 9:17 AM

I recently read that the VIN numbers were sequential based on the plant production of all models, not just Mustangs. The sequence could have contained other car models being produced on the various lines. I am not sure of the accuracy of this would welcome someone knowledgable commeting.

Edited by - round2K on 08/20/2007 10:48:19

64stang_old · August 20, 2007 at 9:17 AM

My conv. also has a build date of 31C. Serial # 5F08D106001 Plan on bringing it to Augusta for Grand National.

Ray

b9folk_old · August 20, 2007 at 9:28 AM

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I recently read that the VIN numbers were sequential based on the plant production of all models, not just Mustangs. The sequence could have contained other car models being produced on the various lines. I am not sure of the accuracy of this would welcome somoneone knowledgable commeting.

I believe that is correct - the VIN (actually warranty #'s) applied to all the car models that were built on a particular line, not just Mustangs. I've heard that several times before.

CharlesTurner · August 20, 2007 at 11:53 AM

Wasn't true with Mustangs, maybe others. Mercury cars built on the same assembly line had different unit numbers.

SixT5HiPo · August 20, 2007 at 9:00 PM

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I recently read that the VIN numbers were sequential based on the plant production of all models, not just Mustangs. The sequence could have contained other car models being produced on the various lines. I am not sure of the accuracy of this...

Figuring out Ford Mustang production can be a bit confusing to us at this point in time...

It's important to remember that the DAP produced both Fairlanes and Mustangs from March through June of 1964. While Fairlane serial numbers are in the 4FXXX1XXXXX series, Mustang serial numbers start with 5F0XX1XXXXX. When regular production started in March, Dearborn built 867 Mustangs and Fairlanes the first week, increased to 1,955 units the second week, and continued increasing until it reached a peak of around 1,320/day when efficiency maxed out.

The Mustang consecutive unit numbers at Dearborn jumped from the 230000 series to 250000 at the changeover to "1965" production after July 31st of 1964. Consecutive unit numbers skip the 400000 and 500000 series, which were used for other Ford divisions.

When it became clear that one assembly plant could not produce enough Mustangs, Ford's San Jose Assembly Plant began building them around mid July 1964, beginning with unit number 5R0XX100001. This quickly transitioned from the 104000 series to 125000 beginning in August of 1964, when "1965" production started.

Because 1965 production was actually a continuation of Mustang production that started in 1964 1/2, the consecutive unit numbers at the Dearborn and San Jose assembly plants did not "reset" to 100001 when "1965" Mustang production started up in August, 1964.

Dearborn could produce about 1,320 units a day, and San Jose could turn out about 480 cars a day at that time. It was still not keeping up with demand, so Ford decided to add a third assembly plant in the East.

The Metuchen Assembly Plant started building 1965 Falcons and Comets in August of 1964. These Falcon serial numbers begin with 5TXXX100001, while the Comets received numbers beginning with 500001. (As Charles correctly stated, Ford and Mercury divisions use independent consecutive unit numbers.) When Mustang production was added in early 1965, Falcon production was discontinued there, and moved to the Lorain, Ohio plant. Mustangs built in NJ have a VIN sequence that begins with 5T0XX130000, and all are consecutively numbered.

With three assembly plants building the Mustang, it was finally possible to turn out about 12,000 units a week. While there was sufficient production capacity, a shortage of 289 engines became the next problem. Ford added 289 production to the Windsor, Canada engine plant to ease the strain on the Cleveland Foundry to solve this problem. However, 289 HiPo engines were only made at Cleveland.

64pony_old · August 28, 2007 at 8:45 AM

Very intresting and useful information,

I have #76 mustang, coupe, 260, 2 barrel, auto. I had it restored in 2000 and as it was disassembled you could see old grease paint numbers on the various body parts. There was also a tie down point on the front chassie rails. I was informed by the restorer that he heard the first 100 Mustangs were built torn apart and rebuilt as they were used as the prototypes to set up the production line.

SixT5HiPo · September 26, 2007 at 5:15 PM

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I was informed by the restorer that he heard the first 100 Mustangs were built torn apart and rebuilt as they were used as the prototypes to set up the production line.

There were aproximately 150 preproduction Mustangs built at the Dearborn Assembly Plant. As mentioned earlier, they were used mostly for advertising, executive "loaners", and promotion, while some were used for engineering changes, crash testing, and even racing. They were not made for sale to the public.

Before the "pre production" Mustangs were built at DAP, an unknown number of so-called Pilot Plant cars were built at Ford's Body and Assembly Division, located at Allen Park, near Dearborn. A Pilot Plant is a special, scaled down version of an assembly line used to

test out production techniques. Pilot Mustangs were built in small batches to work out assembly line problems before they developed at a full scale assembly plant. This process saved time and money by discovering and fixing assembly problems before they could cause costly shutdowns or slowdowns at the actual assembly plant. These cars were given special VIN's with an "S" code for the assembly plant.

Of interest here is one such Pilot Plant Mustang that has been documented. Identified as 5S08K100002, this convertible was scrapped and converted into a show car named Mustang III, and was leased from Dearborn Steel Tubing for use in Ford sponsored Rod and Custom shows in 1964 and 1965.

silverblue_old · September 27, 2007 at 3:33 PM

great stuff, i thought i knew a fair amount about early production but i never heard or read about Pilot plant cars with an S in the vin. i wonder whatever became of the k convert 5S08K10002 ?

kar-nut_old · September 28, 2007 at 4:41 AM

Mustang serial number one. It was sold to Stanley Tucker of St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada on April 14, 1964. Original price: $3,334.

[Blocked Image: http://www.thehenryford.org/exhibits/showr…65/stangsm2.jpg]

http://www.thehenryford.org/exhibits/showr…65/mustang.html

SixT5HiPo · September 28, 2007 at 9:52 PM

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Mustang serial number one. It was sold to Stanley Tucker of St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada on April 14, 1964. Original price: $3,334.

The irony of it is that Mustang Number One was released to the Ford of Canada district sales office, and it was supposed to be displayed at dozens of Canadian dealer's showrooms coast to coast, and then be returned to Ford...It was an accident that it was sold by an over eager salesman to airline pilot Captain Stanley Tucker. By special arrangement, he traded it back to Ford for the 1,000,001st Mustang on March 2, 1966.

Mustang Number One was returned to Ford after Tucker put on about 10,000 miles, and it was repainted and detailed before being used by Ford for promotion during the rest of 1966. After that, it was donated to the Henry Ford Museum, where it was placed in storage until 1984, when it was brought out for public display to commemorate the Mustang's 20th anniversary. After the fall of 1984, it went back in storage until 1988, when it finally went on permanent display...Even more information on Mustang #1 is HERE

Edited by - SixT5HiPo on 10/23/2007 22:23:22

RalphJr · October 24, 2007 at 6:18 PM

The guy restoring my "K" 2+2 body & paint actually owns one of the 12 Worlds Fair cars - #6 I think. He found it in a salvage yard of all places.

Hopefully one day he'll fully restore it - but for now it sits - he is too busy with "customer" cars.

Anyone else know about these cars?

They were prepped special as "show cars" - they even finished off the door and sill areas so the seams didn't show.

SixT5HiPo · October 25, 2007 at 11:31 AM

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The guy restoring my "K" 2+2 body & paint actually owns one of the 12 Worlds Fair cars - #6 I think. He found it in a salvage yard of all places.

Anyone else know about these cars?

They were prepped special as "show cars" - they even finished off the door and sill areas so the seams didn't show.

The October 2007 issue of MUSTANG TIMES has an in-depth story about these special Mustangs, along with very specific details concerning the focal point of the Ford Pavilion at the 1964-5 New York Word's Fair: The Magic Skyway.

This is one of the most interesting and well written articles published by this magazine in recent times...It mentions Mustang # 5F08F100006, one of the original 12 Mustangs used in the Magic Skyway, and that this car was discovered in a Georgia junkyard back in the 1970's in very poor condition. It is reported to be undergoing a complete restoration by the owner who is identified as Allan Shepley of Byron, Georgia.

SixT5HiPo · October 25, 2007 at 12:42 PM

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great stuff, i thought i knew a fair amount about early production but i never heard or read about Pilot plant cars with an S in the vin.

Click on the link for some more interesting information about another Pilot Plant car: 5S07?100003.

round2K_old · October 25, 2007 at 7:25 PM

The owner of the Skyway car has posted on the VMF board seeking information......

RalphJr · October 26, 2007 at 10:43 AM

Allan is indeed the owner and has his own restoration business MUSTANG CENTRAL. http://www.mustangcentral.com/

The last time we spoke about the car he said it was in very rough shape when found and still was - so I don't think he has started on it yet. I think he has been collecting very early parts for it since many items were missing.

He does a lot of "Resto Mods" and was recently a featured guest on the DIY Channel's "Classic Car Restoration" program where they "Restofied" a '65 T code 2+2.

He is only doing my rust repair and "paint and body" work - but he does it all.

His metal and paint work is first class - exactly why I asked him to do my K code.

He has had my car for a while now - I've asked him not to rush it since it is Raven black and I want it perfect. I'm patient and I want it right. The years, Oklahoma mud and road salt, and my teenage foot (lots of racing even before I owned it we think) were not kind. BUT at least it is a survivor - original VIN on the block and tranny and I now have obtained all the missing HiPo pieces.

Can't wait to get back behind the wheel - it has been parked and stored since 1989.

Participate now!