[DeTomaso] Just the facts survey

Gray Gregory rgg at gregorycook.com
Thu Mar 1 17:19:32 EST 2012


Actually that's not that early at all. As I said in my earlier post; Manufacturers always introduce the new year model in the fall of the previous year. So a July build date (remember Europe virtually shuts down completely in aug) would be about right to Make it to the dealer floor by Sept. The changeover to 73 models was obviously delayed, as your numbers state, due to the sharp distinction between the pre L and L model but I'm sure Ford wasn't happy about it. The distinction between a 73 and 74 was much more subtle so Ford probably started calling everything that hit the lot after Sept. 1 a 74.

Gray

From: MikeLDrew at aol.com [mailto:MikeLDrew at aol.com]
Sent: Thursday, March 01, 2012 1:05 PM
To: grayjim at att.net; Gray Gregory; cmccann1972 at gmail.com; kermit at gabbagabbahey.net; garth_rodericks at yahoo.com; detomaso at realbig.com; spkorb at gmail.com
Subject: Re: [DeTomaso] Just the facts survey


In a message dated 3/1/12 10 14 46, grayjim at att.net<mailto:grayjim at att.net> writes:



Mike,

Do we know when the the first '74 was built and what the number was?


>>>All that info is listed in the orange Ford parts book on Page 2, and that information is copied over (complete with errors) into the De Tomaso parts book that Wilkinson cooked up in the 80s and is still the primary reference for ordering parts.

Before #2293 -- 1971
>From 2293 -- 1972
>From 4269 -- 1972 1/2
>From 4840 -- 1973
>From 5900 -- 1974

By looking up the VIN of 5900, we can see that it's THPNNA5900, which would make it a July '73 build date.  That's rather early, don't you think?  It just highlights the completely capricious nature of the model year changeover, which was apparently dictated by Ford.

Again, these are completely arbitrary distinctions and have nothing to do specifically with differences in the cars themselves.  The cars evolved over time separately from the model years; for example, cars built in January and February of 1972 are actually built to the 1971 specifications, generally.  This is repeated over and over as the details changed at random times.

The L-model was a fairly sharp delineation between 'early' and 'late' cars, but the first 800-or-so L-models received the two-pod dash, and it wasn't until sometime in 1973 that they switched from the inside to the outside fuel filler, etc. etc. etc.

Mike



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