1967 Shelby GT and Ford Mustang VIN Decorders

Ford misstamped VINs on Shelby units

All Ford door tags accidentally left on the GT 500 cars by SAI that we've found are coded with a "Q" as the 5th character.

All '67 GT 500 4-speed transmission pad stamps (that we've collected so far) are stamped with a "Q" (or makeshift O+1) as the engine code (5th character). However, when it comes to the apron stamps, there were variations on the 5th character. Not all GT 500s were stamped with the expected "Q" code. Some of the earlier cars were stamped with an "S", some had a makeshift "Q" by combining an "O" for the 'bowl' and a small "1" to form the 'tail.' Toward the end of production, we also found some GT 500 cars that were mistakenly stamped with a "K". We've even seen variations between the three apron VIN stamps on the same car.

All '67 GT 350 cars left Ford San Jose equipped with the 289-4V "hi-performance" (a/k/a/ "hi-po") engine, and therefore were all "K-codes." The computer system recorded the base platform that was referenced for the Shelby build, which was actually an "A" code (289-4V). Sometimes the GT 350 cars had their apron VINs mistakenly stamped with an "A" as the engine code.

It is the SRG's observation that many of the apron VIN engine code stamping mistakes happened late in San Jose production, around the same days/weeks that we see the 6A trim substituted for 5A trim. It is probable that these mistakes are related and result from the senior line workers taking time off for their summer family vacations.
 

See Also

Hand-Engraved Shelby VIN Plates

Ford Door Tags Not Removed by Shelby