Traction Bars

[TJinSA]

6S296 has a '65 housing

[SFM6S087]

6S296 has a '65 housing

Thanks, Tim. I added that to my list in Reply #8.

Steve

[greekz]

6S1134 has a '66 housing and is an early February '66 build at SJ.  If this helps your list.

Greek

[427hunter]

853 has a 66 housing and dog leg (kinked) over-rides.

[S7MS427]

FWIW, 6S817 has a '66 type housing and over ride bars.  I haven't had the inner panels out in about seven years so I don't know if I have dog legs there or not.  I'll have to look for pictures.

[SFM6S087]

All the above cars added to the list in reply #8.

Steve

[TJinSA]

Can straight and dog-legged bars be differentiated from under the car?

[SFM5S000]

Can straight and dog-legged bars be differentiated from under the car?

Yes, the "dogleg" can be viewed from the underside. It's approximately below the frame rail dog-legging into the wheel well before it enters the slot/hole into the interior above the forward part of the leaf spring.
Obviously, the straight bar is in the same location, just without the dog leg.

Cheers
~Earl J

[98SVT - was 06GT]

I'd vote more for T bars sitting on the shelf with newer (kinked) ones being put in front when they came in rather than Ford serial number build order being the reason. For that to be the case cars would have been assembled and stored randomly then drug out and having the Shelby tag put on.
For the housing the Ford numbers could be the indicator between housing dates or even that Ford was using up housings as they dug deeper into their parts pile. Was there a period where regular 66 K Mustangs got 65 housings early in their build cycle?

[deathsled]

843 has the kink

[shelby 711]

6S711 has a 66 housing with kinked bars .

[Plajoie]

On 6S521 has dog leg override.  Shaved fine thread bolts on the rear axle.  The bolts on the floor mounted brackets were missing alone with the brackets that were ripped out of the floor.  I purchased new brackets that came with Course threaded bolts.

[SFM6S087]

Thanks to all who are contributing info here. I'm trying to keep reply #8 updated with new reports of axle housing types. And I'm keeping track of the straight/kinked traction bars being reported, but haven't put together a good list for posting here yet.

Steve

[gt350hr]

I'd vote more for T bars sitting on the shelf with newer (kinked) ones being put in front when they came in rather than Ford serial number build order being the reason. For that to be the case cars would have been assembled and stored randomly then drug out and having the Shelby tag put on.
For the housing the Ford numbers could be the indicator between housing dates or even that Ford was using up housings as they dug deeper into their parts pile. Was there a period where regular 66 K Mustangs got 65 housings early in their build cycle?

    The bars were delivered in "bindles" (pallets with card board sides) , not individual boxes. Straight bars were used up from the initial order placed for '65 production and over the counter "kits". Obviously the "second generation" bars ( probably 1,000-1,500 bars) were at the request of SAI and the "why" would be a great question for Chuck Cantwell.  SAI was TMs biggest customer by far and only OEM . They also made the Monte Carlo bars.
   Randy

[6R07mi]

I'd vote more for T bars sitting on the shelf with newer (kinked) ones being put in front when they came in rather than Ford serial number build order being the reason. For that to be the case cars would have been assembled and stored randomly then drug out and having the Shelby tag put on.
For the housing the Ford numbers could be the indicator between housing dates or even that Ford was using up housings as they dug deeper into their parts pile. Was there a period where regular 66 K Mustangs got 65 housings early in their build cycle?

Looking at the photos of LAX GT350 production it appears they used a similar process as San Jose would, a pallet/crate/crib of parts arrives, a HiLo used to unload the truck and it's dropped along side the assembly line, parts are pulled until the pallet/crate/crib is empty and the next shipment is brought in and placed alongside, once the 1st batch is exhausted, they begin pulling parts from batch#2.
This is the most timesaving / economical method in a manual assembly process.
Still widely seen in non-automated production environments even today.
IMHO

jim p