'67 GT500 distributor

[nwfire]

So our 1967 GT500 has an after market distributor on it with a vacuum advance.  Is the factory correct distributor a Autolite C5AF 12127 E?  I have also seen ads for Autolite C5AE distributor listed as correct.

Anyone tell me what's correct??

Thanks, Terry.

[Kent]

The correct distributor would be a Autolite for an earlier GT500 I think the last ones of the GT500 from what I have seen had a FoMoCo the part number was always C5AF-12127-E.

[shelbydoug]

This discussion is confusing me. Isn't the FoMoCo casting the oldest version of the dual point? The Autolite is the newest version?

I would expect the FoMoCo to be from a 1963 or 1964 427. Possibly a 1965 model year.  I have clearly experienced that.

I would expect the Autolite to be from 1966 build date, which is a 1967 model year and later all the way up into the 1970 over the counter Ford Service part?

That cross over should be somewhere between the 1965 427 and 1966 427 model years?

As I said, I am confused by this and need clarification?

[TLea]

Autolite was phased in fall 66. FoMoCo prior. To answer your question,no vacuum advance

[Bob Gaines]

The correct distributor would be a Autolite for an earlier GT500 I think the last ones of the GT500 from what I have seen had a FoMoCo the part number was always C5AF-12127-E.

It is opposite .FOMOCO in early production transitioning to Autolite in later production.

[Bob Gaines]

The correct distributor would be a Autolite for an earlier GT500 I think the last ones of the GT500 from what I have seen had a FoMoCo the part number was always C5AF-12127-E.

It is opposite .FOMOCO in early production transitioning to Autolite in later production.

The transition seemed to be a gradual one with overlap as seen on the engine usage because I have seen FOMOCO on some later 67 cars while others were Autolite and Autolite on some early fall 66 with others being FOMOCO. The same goes for smallblock from what I have seen.

[shelbydoug]

The correct distributor would be a Autolite for an earlier GT500 I think the last ones of the GT500 from what I have seen had a FoMoCo the part number was always C5AF-12127-E.

It is opposite .FOMOCO in early production transitioning to Autolite in later production.

The transition seemed to be a gradual one with overlap as seen on the engine usage because I have seen FOMOCO on some later 67 cars while others were Autolite and Autolite on some early fall 66 with others being FOMOCO. The same goes for smallblock from what I have seen.

The question that I would have and probably no one could know is that if you had a late application of the FoMoCo in a '67 car would the date code on that distributor indicate a late build or an early build distributor that was just put into a late build engine?

At least with the '67 GT500 428's, I always thought that the date code is more important then the engineering number on some parts? I know that I get strong disagreement to that by highly respected experienced people but I would give my example of a '68 version of the oil filter adapter with a spring '67 date code.

MY theory is that like these distributors, that if that part existed in the pile of parts to be assembled into a '67 production engine, and the date suggests that it did, there was little or no thought put to what to assemble to that engine. You just took one out of the pile that was just brought to you to use. Those workers just worked there and didn't make that decision. Whomever sorted the parts into the bin did and they just were told to do it as well by management supervisors.

Ford itself in the case of mechanical parts didn't care what those looked like, just how they worked under a  "Parts is parts" philosophy.

[TLea]

The point is a little mute. The distributor date should be in range for engine build (unless its a fake)

[Bob Gaines]

As has been mentioned the date code on the distributor would be within a range relevant to the engine build date.

[rockhouse66]

I have worked on a C5AF-E FoMoCo with a 8E date code which would have to be a pretty late 1968 model year application.  I would think if you find a C5AF-E with a good date code for the car's build date you shouldn't pay much attention to whether it is FoMoCo or Autolite.

[Bob Gaines]

I have worked on a C5AF-E FoMoCo with a 8E date code which would have to be a pretty late 1968 model year application.  I would think if you find a C5AF-E with a good date code for the car's build date you shouldn't pay much attention to whether it is FoMoCo or Autolite.

+1. Words to live by.