With respect to date codes on ebay listed items. I think it is true that many parts listed on ebay include the casting dates for those who are interested. It is not true that this practice is limited to Ford parts. Most people restoring their favorite cars look for correct date codes to reconstruct their pride and joy. This is not a practice limited to Ford fanatics.

Numbers matching means exactly that... numbers matching. Claiming anything else would be akin to saying that just any Mustang is your Mustang. While there are many like it with build dates, options or color combinations very much like yours... YOURS is the only one with your name on the title. Sorry guys but you can make all the excuses you like, if it isn't THE original block, trans etc... It IS NOT numbers matching.

With respect to the VIN stamping on these components... mine are all in place as they were stamped over 3 decades ago. Unaltered and unchanged, they are indeed numbers matching. Thanks, Dean

 

very true. although keeping in mind, that while not all parts stamped have the correct "came on your car" numbers, however if careful research takes place in your restoration, and you can find out that the car is either late or early, your can than judge that the parts your are buying will be "correct" for that particular vehicle ie; 64 1/2 mustang will need C3 part numbered ford parts, late 67 will still carry c7 part numbers, and early 67 will car some c6 part numbers. You see guys it really all goes into carefull reasearch and planning, but when it all come down to it, there are no perfect cars or restos out there, these cars are 40 years old, and somewhere, somehow, down the line, something has been replaced, while the original parts tossed away

 

I'm not contesting your definition of "numbers matching" but I am trying to point out that not all Mustangs have VIN numbers stamped on the block and major components. The early cars do not and that's why some of us have stated that the term doesn't apply. Ford only started stamping partial VINs on blocks in 1968 to comply with federal regulations. Before that date, the components were not stamped. There is really no way to determine if the motor, transmission or rear end in a 66 Mustang is the original, as-built block. You can only use the date code and part number to determine that the components used were produced with date codes consistant with the production date of the vehicle.

 

i understand what you implying, and i do agree what your getting at, so yes there is really only one way of keeping the car as original as possible, and that is to use only correct date coded parts for that particular car. i have a lot of parts on my car that suggests its all original, which i had a post about a long while ago, if soaring remembers correctly, i had the frame rails, as well as fenders etc etc stamped with 1222c6 which tells me the car was produced on dec 22 1966, which i knew already, but the catch is, the engine had the same stamps around it, as well as the tranny and rear end. It all really depends if you take a look at the tags that they all have, and compare with several other little features along the car, and most the tags all are about the same in stamping.

 

Are you talking about the small metal tags that are bolted to the rear end and transmission or actual stampings into the case of the component?

 

yes sir i am, if you can decode those, (especially the steering tag, and engine tag) you can really see what engine sould be in there, what year the tag was made, so on and so forth. I learned a while back how to read steering tags, for a gt regisrty website i used to belong to, anyhow, basically it comes down to the tag reading that the motor is either a big block (d) non gt or a gt big block (s) and a non gt 289 is (L) and a gt 289 is a (K) blah blah blah i could really go on with how to decode them but usually no one cars about little ole me

 

My 66 is numbers matching, unless someone considers a remanufactured carburator, and pertronix iginitor, to make it not numbers matching. oops, and a new fuel pump. Damn, it's not numbers matching anymore folks. GET REAL

 

Yeah, I have all those little metal tags everywhere. I know my car is original, because you can just tell that it has never been fooled with, and it only has 53,000 miles on it. It's a very clean car, that has sat most of it's life.

 

Sure we care. I'm not trying to beat a dead horse, I'm just trying to make the point that tags can be switched from block to block, transmission to transmission, etc. Ford didn't start stamping the partial VIN's into the actual component until some time in 1968. Before that, they used the little metal tags. The block or transmission didn't have a stamped number except for the part number and date code. Without VIN stampings, there is no way to verify that the motor under your hood is the one that was put in at the factory even if the tag is on it. N/M