Two GT/CS's Built on the Same Day

[case12]

Recently Roland (karolscali) contacted me showing from his Marti report that his CS was built the same day as mine. Since both of our cars are fairly early, I checked into some of the details to see what we could learn about how the CS's were built on the line, and what ways they were ordered. Attached are the two reports side by side. Notice the following things:

1. Roland's was ordered 1/30. Mine has no order date.

2. Both were sent to Pasadena.

3. The VIN are about 600 cars separated. Feb was still a ramp up month. Scheduled build day is one day apart. Buck day, serial day, and build day are exactly the same.This would confirm to me that these cars were built on the line (or pulled off), but not built in batches (thoughts?).

4. Roland's is ordered as "Stock" and highly optioned. Mine is "Basic Off-Standard" with few options. Again, on the same day two very different CS's were built - making me think they were built on the line (thoughts?).

6. Sell dates - Roland's sold 4/8. Mine sold 8/18.

I just wanted to share this to possibly shed some light on how our GT/CS's were built. Any other observations? Any thoughts? Casey

 

[robert campbell]

Casey,
I have made contact with a sales manager from a Ford dealer in my area (Smith Gandy Ford) that was there in 1968. You have mentioned the code for the how the cars were order. Stock, Fleet, Basic off Standard, and so on. To me the way cars were ordered is fascinating. Were they customer ordered? Did Ford order them for the dealer, knowing what they thought would sell? Did the dealer sense cars that would sell and order them for the area (convertibles in Alaska)?? Special order items for an area? The thoughts go on and on.

I am going to quiz this guy on how cars came to the the dealers and what all the order codes mean. Some are easy, some generate questions. Maybe he can shed some light.

Rob

 

[PNewitt]

I think that Jeff Speegle can explain this better than I, but it was the dealer order that determined the date--which in itself can vary from several "actual" days from what is stamped on the tag. The VIN order, is not as much of a sequence as we might like to think so.

Dealers were given a chance to order cars after they sold what they had. Larger dealers had more clout in what they could re-order. A small Ford dealer couldn't just order 20 CS cars, because they were too small--maybe two or three.

Initial production in Feb '68 included a line of cars built from an "educated guess" of what would sell by ford marketing. Then, the dealer re-orders were allowed, which pretty much made up what we see now in the production numbers, engine type, interiors, colors, etc...

Paul N.