Quote:
Originally Posted by KULTULZ
- UPDATE ON ONGOING SAGA -
I come to you with a heavy heart. I have discovered that the early PATENT PLATE PRODUCTION CODE does not include TRANS/REAR info but only the BUILD DATE. The rest of the coding is unexplained for now.
This discussion - http://57fordsforever.com/smf/index.php?topic=5454.0 - will illustrate what I misinterpreted as someone else did also.
Now, this does not answer the 2 in the EXT PAINT CODE or the variances in differing ASSY PLANT PLATES. I am still working on it.
If the needed decode is not found in the 55/57 FORD PARTS CATALOG, then the info was not available to the field. I know that when I was in it (1970-1990), any car that came through with a DSO CODE and wasn't described fully in the MPC, one had to contact DEARBORN cataloging for the the build info. I have a feeling this is the explanation (but then again, I have been wrong before).
The TRANS was identified easily by the assembly tag, the REAR was a crap-shoot as not all came through with tags in all years (1954-57). And there is not REAR TAG info decoding in the 49/59 MPC. |
Appreciate the follow-up, and all the leg work. Thanks for clarifying.
Do you think Dearborn still has any records from that era on this stuff? I know the factory invoices are available for mid-55-57 ‘birds, but have never heard of any passenger car or truck records from that era being available.