1966 production date

[red66]

Is it possible to determine the actual production date of a car using the Ford VIN?

Information on file in the Registry under the Shelby VIN lists only the order and shipping dates for this car.  There apparently is a 289K registry book, however, the Ford VIN for the car I am researching is not listed on the page listing San Jose K-Codes with a range of Ford VINS that should include this car. 

[Karguy]

I imagine that Jeff  or one of the other Shelby brainiacs will have your answer for you. I was able to figure out the San Jose build date within a few days on 6S281 by comparing my Ford vin to known K code cars with their build door tags in place. What is the Shelby vin on your car?
Best of luck, Karl

[6s1640]

Hi Red66,

It also helps to have the engine assembly date to compare against these predicted dates.  If the door data scheduled date from these other car's put your cars San Jose scheduled date before the engine assembly date, you will need to adjust the actual build date from the scheduled build date.  Below is a tool you can use to also estimate.  Proportion your car's Ford VIN to the manufacturing days in the month.  Consider the below as a planning tool, for scheduling with the part supply chain for parts on dock back in the day,  not the actual build.   If you need help, send me a PM.  Best of luck.

Cory

Month - Year   San Jose  Ford VIN
  Aug-65         100000 to 103900
  Sep-65         103000 to 114200
  Oct-65         113100 to 126900
  Nov-65         125800 to 139200
  Dec-65         137500 to 149600
  Jan-66         148700 to 161900
  Feb-66         160200 to 172400 
  Mar-66         170800 to 180200
  Apr-66         178800 to 193200
  May-66         191400 to 209200

[red66]

Thanks for the responses. 

More info:  the block date code is 6A26 and the engine assembly date is 6B10.  With respect to the VIN numbers supplied by Cory, my Ford VIN 189--- falls in the April production run. 

Does anyone know whether or not a production record from Ford exists that would list a firm production date for a specific VIN?

[SFM66H]

red66,

My buddy Denny (6S1568) had a great idea about how to try to narrow down the dates of our cars (I have 6S1615) and that has influenced me to copy his efforts. We now watch for the details of Mustangs for sale, and often the Ford VIN plate is included in the photos. If it's a San Jose car, that gives you a definite parameter to work with, and recently we have found two cars that are are close enough to our Ford VIN's that we feel we can now prove the date that our Hertz cars were built.

I've always felt slighted that 65-66 owners have not had the information available to them that 67 & up owners take for granted. But with his new idea I'm now thrilled to have some mechanism by which we can try to catch up to the owners of newer cars than ours!

Kieth

[J_Speegle]

More info:  the block date code is 6A26 and the engine assembly date is 6B10.  With respect to the VIN numbers supplied by Cory, my Ford VIN 189--- falls in the April production run. 

Thanks for what you did provide but it narrows it down very little. The first three of the Ford VIN helps the most but only gives us when they thought the car would be built. More below

Does anyone know whether or not a production record from Ford exists that would list a firm production date for a specific VIN?

Yes we can. They don't exist. So we are left with projected build dates, guesses made by San Jose or another plant when the order was received months earlier and we know these can be off on a regular bases a week to three and in extreme rare cases months

Tracking other individual cars IMHO will do you little good since when they were built has no bearing on when your car in question was built.  Been collecting this data for over three decades

Best we can do is narrow down to a few days the projected build date.  I suggest you start with stamping dates from sheet metal that is welded to the uni-body it will at least set barriers/limits on how early the car was built and in turn give you an idea of when it MIGHT have been finished.

If you choose to share the dates you find those could be added to the data base and go towards helping others in similar situations and others with questions like you.

[Karguy]

Nice chart Cory, as usual good stuff from you. Thanks

[6s1640]

Thanks for the responses. 

More info:  the block date code is 6A26 and the engine assembly date is 6B10.  With respect to the VIN numbers supplied by Cory, my Ford VIN 189--- falls in the April production run. 

Does anyone know whether or not a production record from Ford exists that would list a firm production date for a specific VIN?

Hi Red66,  The San Jose VIN your provided 189XXX does suggest April time frame.  This VIN does not fall into an overlap, so that helps.   With the 6B10 for February 10, 1966 engine assembly date does support a mid/late April date.   I will guess around 04-21-66.   What are the SAI dates for shipping?  Plus you need to account for the sheet metal stamping dates to balance out your estimates.  In the end, you will only be able guesstimate a range, maybe a two week period.  That is the best we can do at this time.  The build date will be book-ended by the engine assembly date and the SAI shipping date.  Go find a 1966 calendar and mark the known dates.  Then you will have to use your intuition and apply some realistic flow time between operations  (FTBO).  Assume some FTBO for shipping engine to San Jose, maybe two weeks.  Time for the engine to sit an San Jose waiting.   Apply some time in the San Jose final assembly and transportation to SAI.  Then work backwards and apply some FTBO from the SAI shipping dates to reflect the modification time a SAI.  How do the dates line up?  Give it a try. Adjust the FTBO's to construct a reasonable sequence.  That will get you close.  This will only work for a typical scenario.  If the car was pulled out of the San Jose line or sat in the SAI back lot for months, it will be tougher to estimate.  Based on the 189XXX VIN, your car was built during the end of GT350 production, probably in the last 250 GT350's.

Best of luck

Cory

[SFM6S087]

To expand a little on what Jeff wrote.

There are 2 dates to keep in mind – the scheduled production date and the actual production date.

I believe the date stamped on the Ford VIN plates was the "scheduled" build date that was established when the order was submitted for that car. The actual build date can differ by weeks or months.

And two cars with sequential Ford VINs may have been built at different times. I think the Ford VINs were also assigned when the order was placed. And sequential VINs could end up on different orders with different options selected. Depending on those options and availability of parts, etc., two cars with sequential Ford VINs could be produced days, if not weeks, apart.

If you still want to dig into your scheduled production date I can tell you what Howard Pardee does when he gets that question in relation to 1966 GT350's. He consults the book "Mustang Production Guide" Volume 1 for 1964-1/2 -1966 cars by Jim Smart and Jim Haskell. That book was published in 1994 and has long been out of print.  But you might find a copy on ebay or through a used book store.

But if you want to know the ACTUAL production date of your car, using the method Jeff laid out in reply #5 will probably yield the most accurate result.

Steve

[J_Speegle]

I believe the date stamped on the Ford VIN plates was the "scheduled" build date that was established when the order was submitted for that car. The actual build date can differ by weeks or months.

+1 That is pretty much a direct quote of what I've been told by the guys that were managers of the car plants and what we've been able to document

[Duncan66]

My K-code coupe is a June 66, and the serial number is 203685.....

[Steve McDonald Formally known as Mcdonas]

The date splits seems to fit the Ford VIN for 6S1431
I have the delivery date to the Selling Dealer and the car was built maybe 30 days prior
Great information
Thanks