Arlie, please do me a HUGE “solid” and scan pages 29, 30, and 12 of PM’s first book.
On the scan of the first page of the registry that Arlie posted, the car belonging to Bruce Malmberg is my car. The next one down is Tom Shields car, which was later Janice Brulc’s car in our on-line registry. Both Marti’s are in the Marti thread on-line. Mine built on 2 January and the Tom Shield’s car built on 4 January. The first PM book on page 29 in paragraph 5 it speaks to cars on standby. And speaks to the delay in production surges that have ordered dates far from build dates. On page 30 there is a timeline of production and speaks to the 7 prototypes being built and even speaks on the top of the right side of the chart about “Nugget” gold specials to jump start sales in the Northwest.
Certainly history has become clearer with the Ford records owned by Marti. And the easiest thing is to say is “no Marti, no proof”, no GT/CS. And that may be the final litmus test. In one of Paul’s tirades at me he says he has a debut car in his registry. He only mentioned it that one time to chastise me in public on the SAAC site, so I doubt its truth.
The timeline and the complete section on page 12 of the first book deal with the lateness of the prototypes due to the late add of the California Special script on the quarters.
Does anyone who reads these pages doubt that there were 1968 Mustang Coupes, already down the line fully assembled, BUT NOT ordered as a GT/CS? Retrofitted with the option for the debut? I do. How long would it have taken to order, buck, build, assemble, deliver from San Jose to LA, and add the script? One month from January 16th? Maybe, but most points to cars already down the line with lots of options being retrofitted.
Does anyone really believe that the cars on the stage that night would have a Marti pedigree? IMO the debut cars would not be Marti pedigreed. On page 12 it even speaks to the final assembly being performed at ACSCO. To claim that the debut cars are assembled fakes due to a lack of Marti pedigree diminishes the fathers of the GT/CS cars! Couple this with the strike in the fall of 1967, and you have a whole bunch of cars stalled on the line or pulled off and staged. And a bunch of them languishing outside of Ford factories.
Other than a few in the “know” in Southern California, on 15 February 1968 these cars did not exist. IMO, there were no brochures in the dealer show room or a “block on the order form” to put a checkmark in it for a GT/CS option package until the day of the debut. And I bet there were all sorts of “plain jane” Mustangs coming down the line or staged for delivery with build dates earlier than 15 February.
Again, I would love to find some other cars on the early registry page that Arlie posted. I do not think for a minute that my car was at the debut on 15 February. But with an identical twin with the entire original fiberglass, it is a mystery in my mind.
By the way, my car will certainly be dropped from the new registry! So will its twin! No big deal to me!!! I have found a great family!
Let’s put an APB out for some of those early VIN’s! We may find a debut car.
Rob
