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12-06-2021, 11:13 AM | #1 |
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Early Production '57 Ford Data Plate Questions
Howdy —
Trying to decode Dad's data plate. Searched around on here and google and all the data plate examples show the later production decoders. His was built in November '56 from what can tell. Getting hung up on the production code at the end... .it's not labeled like the later plates with 'Date' 'Trans' 'Axle'. Any help filling in the blanks appreciated! Here's what I have; D = 312 4v 7 = 1957 D = Dallas Plant V = Victoria Body — Fairlane 500 130591 = 30,591th vehicle assembled 63A = Fairlane 500 Club Victoria ZE = Coral Sand lower body/Colonial White upper body 2 = tu-tone? L = Colonial Vinyl and Brown Tropical-Leaf or Brown Silver-Shadow Fabric 26L = 26th November 98 = ? 5 = 2.91:1 Axle? C = Fordomatic (3-speed)?
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Kent — Round Rock, TX '56 F-100 | '56 Crown Vic | '57 Fairlaine 500 | '57 Thunderbird |
12-06-2021, 04:09 PM | #2 |
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Re: Early Production '57 Ford Data Plate Questions
Although this is a link to T-Bird page it explains the Data Plates were changed during April of '57.
https://www.ctci.org/decoder/ The "Production code" was discontinued and replaced with Transmission and Axle codes. https://www.ctci.org/wp-content/uplo...02/print03.jpg The Production code may have had something to do with how many cars of that model were built for a particular sales district. Last edited by dmsfrr; 12-06-2021 at 04:40 PM. |
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12-06-2021, 04:19 PM | #3 | |
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Re: Early Production '57 Ford Data Plate Questions
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Kent — Round Rock, TX '56 F-100 | '56 Crown Vic | '57 Fairlaine 500 | '57 Thunderbird |
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12-06-2021, 05:42 PM | #4 |
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Re: Early Production '57 Ford Data Plate Questions
How to decode the 57 Ford Data Plate |
12-06-2021, 06:05 PM | #5 | |
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Re: Early Production '57 Ford Data Plate Questions
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The changeover to the '58 model year had at least one of its own problems that may have kept the main office fairly busy. The '58 Birds and Lincolns were built at the new Wixom facility and the Birds weren't ready until about 3 months late. http://automotivemileposts.com/tbird/prod1957tbird.html . Last edited by dmsfrr; 12-07-2021 at 01:49 PM. |
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12-07-2021, 10:32 AM | #6 |
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Re: Early Production '57 Ford Data Plate Questions
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Kent — Round Rock, TX '56 F-100 | '56 Crown Vic | '57 Fairlaine 500 | '57 Thunderbird |
12-07-2021, 10:37 AM | #7 |
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Re: Early Production '57 Ford Data Plate Questions
A look at earlier data plate configurations puts the production code in a category that may be pretty simple. The 985C may be the 985th car produced that day and C would be the grave yard shift. The C could definitely be something else like a specific assembly line but without a reference for the 1957 Ford full size passenger car line production code then anything is a guess. All Cars made on a specific day in a specific plant would be included in the daily production numbers from the Thunderbird to the basic Fairlane depending on what assembly plant is affected.
Ford originally published this stuff in both chassis parts catalogs and body parts catalogs depending on the year of manufacture. The body parts catalog for a 1957 Ford should have been stand alone publication but it was combined with 1953 to 1957 and the early 1957 edition may be the one needed. The chassis parts catalog was 1955 to 1957. Most of these books were replaced by the later multi-year semi-inclusive catalogs that covered all Ford cars from 1949 through 1959 so a lot of information was considered redundant and was not always included. Ford didn't put as much information down for the earlier cars and mid year changes make for some real head scratchers from one year to the next. 1949 was a bad year for data plate information because the system was new compared to 1948. The change from 1951 to the 1952 cars was also a big change due to upgrades in the part number prefixes and the Y-block year of 1954 made even more changes to that. Last edited by rotorwrench; 12-07-2021 at 11:02 AM. |
12-07-2021, 10:42 AM | #8 | |
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Re: Early Production '57 Ford Data Plate Questions
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12-07-2021, 02:20 PM | #9 |
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Re: Early Production '57 Ford Data Plate Questions
If you do, can you post a REFERRING URL so that we can also follow the subject/posts?
It is correct about the 1949/59 PASS CAR MPC FINAL ISSUE in that it shows only the later 57/58 PATENT PLATE and no decoding for the PRODUCTION CODE found on earlier style plate(s). I think the characters 98 represent the SALES DISTRICT the car was intended for. I am working on this but if they know the answer it will save me some trouble and would be appreciated.
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12-07-2021, 04:17 PM | #10 | |
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Re: Early Production '57 Ford Data Plate Questions
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Link here. |
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12-07-2021, 08:06 PM | #11 |
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Re: Early Production '57 Ford Data Plate Questions
!!! Appreciated !!!
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12-07-2021, 08:13 PM | #12 | |
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Re: Early Production '57 Ford Data Plate Questions
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~ scheduled to be assembled on that day ~ Not sure what the "C" is for... Another possibility is the last digits are the cumulative total of vehicles of that model ordered for that dealer sales area. I've been told this format was used for the '55/'57 T-Birds, by one of the folks who keeps a very large registry, he's affiliated with CTCI. . Last edited by dmsfrr; 12-07-2021 at 11:57 PM. |
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12-07-2021, 09:45 PM | #13 |
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Re: Early Production '57 Ford Data Plate Questions
!!! WRONG !!! OK, I have it ciphered out. I just wanted to ring the bell before anyone does at THE OTHER FORUM ... PRODUCTION CODE 26L - PRODUCTION DATE 98 - DISTRICT SALES 5 - AXLE C - TRANS The 2 in the PAINT CODE represents the type of paint used (I believe). I need to search further The above translation is incorrect My Bad ... Last edited by KULTULZ; 01-22-2022 at 05:47 PM. |
12-07-2021, 10:18 PM | #14 |
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Re: Early Production '57 Ford Data Plate Questions
Well that makes sense. Interesting stuff there. Thanks!
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Kent — Round Rock, TX '56 F-100 | '56 Crown Vic | '57 Fairlaine 500 | '57 Thunderbird |
12-07-2021, 11:15 PM | #15 | |
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Re: Early Production '57 Ford Data Plate Questions
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26L = scheduled production date. Yes 98 = District Sales Area. Nope, there is no sales area 98, see image 1 below. 5 = Axle. Nope, I don't think there were that many factory original choices behind a 312 in '57. C = Trans. Nope, the transmission codes for '57 models were numbers, not letters. . Last edited by dmsfrr; 12-08-2021 at 03:13 PM. Reason: spelling |
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12-08-2021, 06:12 AM | #16 | |
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Re: Early Production '57 Ford Data Plate Questions
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It is not known if it came from FORD MATERIAL or was drawn from a BIRD VENDOR source. Same as with your shown DISTRICT SALES CODE CHART, it is not FORD but a re-write. A few details were left out. You need to be more particular regarding your information sources and not say NOPE but rather IMO. 1957 FORD PASS CAR is being discussed, not BIRD. It may be that the BIRD SPECIFIC DATA PLATE had different coding in spots as possibly the 57 BIRD was assembled only in DETROIT. Also the plate you showed was for a 56 vehicle. That may be another factor. It would be interesting to find the facts as opposed to a BIRD VENDOR version `who may not have ciphered FORD info correctly.
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***** We should have a contest. The player has to start at the very last post of a thread & then try to guess what the OP's original question was about ... Last edited by KULTULZ; 12-08-2021 at 11:56 AM. |
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12-08-2021, 12:13 PM | #17 |
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Re: Early Production '57 Ford Data Plate Questions
No definite answers regarding the production code over at the 57 international site. All their literature makes no mention of it. Another person asked the same question regarding his early production plate and came up empty as well. Not a big deal. All the main info is accounted for. Maybe they didn't think axle/trans info was a big deal till mid year. Ha!
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Kent — Round Rock, TX '56 F-100 | '56 Crown Vic | '57 Fairlaine 500 | '57 Thunderbird |
12-08-2021, 12:51 PM | #18 | ||
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Re: Early Production '57 Ford Data Plate Questions
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https://www.1954ford.com/page3.php https://1956-ford.com/images1956ford...ate-decode.pdf And image 1 below from the Crown Victoria Assn website showing similar information... In these various examples, plus the one from CTCI, the Production Code is consistently described as being: digits for the day of the month, a letter code for the month, and digits for a (presumably) daily production number. Some of these plates have usually 2 characters between the date and daily vehicle number that is the Dealer sales area code. Image 2 below. If you have additional or different information concerning the makeup of the 'Production Code' on this style of data/patent plate I'd welcome seeing it. Quote:
"... Lois (Eminger) worked in the Legal Department at Ford, and needed to research a particular 1955 Thunderbird. When she asked the people in archiving for the invoice, she was told that they were all thrown away after 10 years ... (she) felt this information might be of importance to people down the road, so she asked for permission to save these copies for future reference, and permission was granted by Ford for her to do so." https://automotivemileposts.com/tbir...57eminger.html Yes the charts on the CTCI / Thunderbird website don't specifically include other Ford car models, but the information corresponds directly with the original Ford documents mentioned in the previous paragraph. "...we have Thunderbird invoices for the 1955 models after serial number 232214 and substantially all of the 1956 and 1957 models available ..." https://www.ctci.org/invoice-sales/ FYI, approximately 99% of '55/'57 T-Birds were built in Dearborn. . Last edited by dmsfrr; 12-08-2021 at 08:45 PM. |
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12-08-2021, 07:30 PM | #19 | |
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Re: Early Production '57 Ford Data Plate Questions
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************************ EDIT - And it turns out as not correct. ************************ The exact info to cipher all plates was deleted from the 1949/59 FORD PASS CAR MPC - FINAL ISSUE. See attached for excerpts from pre-mid 1957 PATENT PLATE info - this particular reading describing a Retractable HDT. There appears to be deviations between different model lines. This is the source of the info that needs to be found, not a BIRD Restorer's opinion. Your PRODUCTION CODE reads for your particular 57 as - 1) 26L - BUILD DATE 2) 98 - DISTRICT SALES 3) 5 - 2.91 RR AXLE 4) C - F/M (All Were 3S)
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***** We should have a contest. The player has to start at the very last post of a thread & then try to guess what the OP's original question was about ... Last edited by KULTULZ; 12-16-2021 at 02:06 AM. Reason: TO POINT OUT MY READING COMPREHENSION DIFFICULTIES |
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12-08-2021, 08:12 PM | #20 |
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Re: Early Production '57 Ford Data Plate Questions
This is the thread @ 57fordsforever.com -
http://57fordsforever.com/smf/index....c=8938.new#new There is a REFERRING URL within that thread that will give you most info on the late 57 FORD PLATE.
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