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Based on the SRG's review of microfiche, paperwork,
and Ford computer records,
factoring in both Ford-installed radios
and those added by Shelby American, we
estimate that 80% of the cars left LAX
with a radio and 20% did not (with a 2%
margin of error).
|
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| 1967 Shelby GT 500
#0173. This company car did not have a radio. |
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| 1967 Mustang "Radio Panel Cover"
(Ford p/n: c7ZZ-6504371-A). |
Read on if
you'd like to understand how we arrived at our
numbers.
According to the Ford record, 463 of the '67 Shelby GT cars (14.36%) received AM
pushbutton radios at
the Ford San Jose assembly plant.
The remaining 85.64% of the cars EITHER
received a radio at SAI -or-
were shipped from SAI
without a radio.
The
only accurate way to further analyze the
85.64% (non-FSJ-radio cars) is by using
SAI Paperwork (Production Orders,
Invoices, and/or Window Stickers). Unfortunately,
the full data set (of factory radio
options) was never printed in their registry, and despite
our inquiries, the
saac syndicate refuses to share this
data.
Through grassroots efforts, car owners
have shared their paperwork with us. As
of December 2025, we have
reviewed paperwork for nearly 10%
of the cars.
Facts:
-
If Shelby American,
Inc. (SAI) didn't specify an
AM radio on the DSO, Ford San Jose (FSJ) didn't
install them in the cars.
-
Radios were NOT
standard equipment on a '67 Shelby
GT. They were an option.
-
'Radio delete' would
therefore be an incorrect term to
use.
-
The Ford San
Jose assembly plant only installed AM
push-button radios into
approximately 463 cars (less
than 15% of total Shelby
production). SAI added AM radios
to many cars at LAX before the cars were
sent to dealers.
-
SAI added AM-FM
mono radios to one or more cars before
they were sent to dealers.
-
We believe
there way have been at least one car
with an 8-Track (stereo) tape player added.
-
Not all cars
received a radio before being sent
to dealers.
-
If the car
didn't leave San Jose with a radio, SAI
would only add one if a radio was
requested by the dealer's purchase
order for a so-equipped car (just
like upgraded wheels).
-
For an AM
push-button radio, FoMoCo charged
SAI $41.25; SAI charged the dealer
$47.41 (13% markup); the window
sticker's retail price of $57.51
allowed the dealer to make 18%.
So, how
do you know if your car should have a radio
or not? The answer lies in obtaining the
car's Shelby factory paperwork.
Paperwork that would affirm you car came
with an AM radio:
-
SAI
Production Order - there's an "X" in the
radio box (typed indicate that Ford's
San Jose plant installed it; handwritten circled
indicated it was added by SAI)
-
SAI Dealer Invoice -
there's a $47.41 line item charge for a
radio
-
SAI Window Sticker -
there's a $57.51 charge for an AM radio.
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Marti Report - If
there's an "AM Radio" listed within the
"Your vehicle was equipped with the
following features" subsection, that
means your car had a radio installed by
Ford San Jose, and it is likely that the
car left SAI the same way.
Looking through the entire
Domestic Special Order (DSO) file on
microfilm, we seem to be able to create four
pattern-based groups when it comes to how
cars and radios were ordered:
Group A: DSOs 2501-2523 (the 'early'
cars), 'G.W. Nuznoff' ('received' August &
September 1966) itemized an AM radio on
every DSO except 2513 and 2514, both of
which ended up getting cancelled.
Group B: DSOs 2524-2540 ('received'
in October 1966), Ray Geddes, originally all
had "AM Radio" typed in the options box;
however, each was then
scribbled out
by hand on every DSO in this range. Perhaps
a cost-cutting afterthought?
Note:
There is
one exception found in Group
B, and we believe this exception is most
likely due to a human error during data
entry into the Ford computer system. DSO
2532 was for 70x G.T. 500 Automatic cars
(410F package). The cars on this DSO did
receive AM radios (per the sampling of Marti
reports collected on cars attached to this
DSO), however, no Change Notice was found in
the microfilm file. This one
exception/mistake resulted in 70 cars
getting radios that probably shouldn't have.
Group C: DSOs 2541-2578 ('received'
in November and December 1966) had no
obvious pattern as to which units were
ordered with a radio and which ones were
not. Note: DSO 2541 is also when item number
ranges started to appear on the orders:
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DSOs without AM radio: 2541, 2543, 2544,
2546, 2549, 2551, 2555, 2557, 2559,
2560, 2562, 2566, 2568, 2571- 2584.
-
DSOs with AM radio: 2542, 2545, 2547,
2548, 2550, 2552, 2553, 2554, 2556,
2558, 2561, 2563, 2564, 2565, 2567,
2569, 2570.
When we further
scrutinize "Group C", we see an
'Order Groups' of 4 DSOs each. This
seems to begin with DSO 2541
When you group them like this, you
see the 'order groups':
2542 200F 5A AM 2
(same as previous, plus
radio)
2545 210F 5A AM
2 (same as previous, plus
radio)
2547 210F 5U AM
2 (same as previous, plus
radio)
This
pattern loosely repeats up
to DSO 2569. We find the
process of 'Order Group'
started with the '66 Shelby
GT350 DSOs
. In '66, each Order Group contained
four DSOs that separated
auto/black, auto/Parch,
4spd/Black, and 4spd/Parch.
Group D: DSOs 2285-2614 ('received'
in February and March 1967 - the last two
months of orders) all followed a precise
pattern that included AM radios with all air-conditioning equipped cars ("Selectaire").
i.e. if the car wasn't ordered
with air-conditioning, it wasn't ordered
with a radio.
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DSOs with AM radio (All have AC): 2585,
2587, 2593, 2595, 2597, 2599, 2600,
2602, 2605, 2607, 2611, 2613.
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DSOs without radio (not AC): 2586,
2588-92, 2594, 2596, 2598, 2601, 2603,
2604, 2606, 2608, 2609, 2610, 2612, 2614
Comparing the DSO Microfiche to the Ford record:
DSOs (and SVOs) are "pre-production." The Ford
Computer Record (FCR) is supposed to be
"as-built."
DSOs on microfilm (and
Ford Computer Records) gave us
the following totals for the San Jose plant:
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Radio-equipped cars: 462 - approx 14%
of total
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Car #0176,
not ordered from DSO was equipped with an AM
radio.
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Non-radio cars: 2,672
- approx 86% of
total
Note: Marti report totals seem to indicate a total of 461 cars that left San
Jose with a radio. His quantities have been known to be off by a unit or two
on occasion, often depending on the year his report was printed. Kevin's numbers
(461+2672) only add up to 3,223 units, which is
short of the confirmed 3,225 (serialized) '67
Shelby GT units.
#0176, #0131, and/or #0139 are often discrepancies in
his totals.
Overall,
the
only way to definitively answer, how many '67 GT
cars
received a radio before leaving Shelby American, would
be to gain
access to all the Production Orders to
learn from them -- and unfortunately, the
'syndicate' (SAAC) refuses to help us with this
research.
The factory-installed radio research toipic was initially
posted by the SRG in February 2019.
See Also
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