Originally Posted by 66GTKFB

At a judging seminar several years back, we were told about assembly line year transition parts problems and the reasons for those parts being used by Ford. Among those are the obvious, 64 hood and headlight buckets on 65 model cars - Ford simply wanted to use up existing inventory. There are many examples in later years where Ford substitued engines and transmissions where demand overpowered supply. The use of 5 bolt engines (and transmissions) was another example and their use could be expected into the 65 model year, possibly in cars with early 1965 date codes. In other word, expect the unexpected in judging. I've seen examples of assembly line VIN changes (I sent this one off to Jim Smart and Jim Haskell) where the original VIN was 'xxxxx' out and changed from 5F08D192898 to 5F08F205641. The conclusion was simple, a blown 260engine in a convertible was replaced by a 289. Ford was in the business of selling cars and not storing unused inventory.
Jim