1967 Shelby GT 500 Thermactor Launch Delay

The side-by-side table was created to help visualize the adaptation performed by the San Jose assembly plant as it relates to the first batch of retail GT 500 units that were supposed to be equipped with the California-certified Exhaust Emissions Control System (EECS) a/k/a/ "Thermactor" engine assemblies.

Units requisitioned on DSO 2534, 2538, and 2540 were originally scheduled to be built on December 22, 1966. However, the "428-8V Special Interceptor with EECS" ('Thermactor') engine assemblies were not ready (and/or certified) in time. The assembly date of these units was pushed back until January 4, 1967 (about a week and a half later). Apparently, that still wasn't enough of a delay, and, since "the assembly line doesn't stop," the first 33x regular-production GT500 Thermactor units assembled between Jan. 1 - Jan. 6 were built with non-Thermactor engine assemblies. Two (2) days later, on January 6, 1967, the Thermactor engines made it to the line. The 'Make-Good' took place by substituting Thermactor engines for 33x of the non-Thermactor units requisitioned by DSO 2536 (scheduled to be built on January 16, 1967 / actually built between Jan. 16 and Jan. 23).

The 'make-good' units were selected because they were the first units of each paint group (based on DSO Item Numbers). The paint quantities of the make-goods match the paint colors of the omissions.

The 66 units identified in this research topic are exceptions to "the DSO Golden Rule" of one package per DSO, and with the help of Rich Plescia and Dave Matthews, we have now fully explained why.

Reviewing The Data

Highlights to the package, paint, and trim (PPT) cells are to draw your attention to the substitutions (omissions and make-goods).

On the 'make-good' units, you'll notice that the trim was also substituted to in an attempt to mimic that of the original unit that was shorted the Thermactor engine assembly.

That leaves us wondering why car #0796 is an exception (compared to the rest) as it did not get the substituted black trim. Our theory is that this was a cascaded mistake made at the assembly plant and is isolated to this single unit.

Though no units from DSO 2539 were directly involved with the Thermactor omission/make-up operation, it has been included on its own sheet because it exhibits anomalies with the serialized dates, and we suspect these are related.

Highlighted cells in the Serialized columns indicate anomalies (Serialized date >= Scheduled date or Serialized date == Built date).

See Also