My car has a build date of Aug. 1970 but is titled as a 71, would it have a 1970 motor or a 1971 motor?
Does it really matter? The year of your car is really important only in the VIN. If the VIN says it is a 1971...then it is a 1971 and it doesn't matter when the car was built.
I would imagine that early in the year if Ford had any 70 castings left they used them first, then went to the 71. Only real way to find out is look at the code on the block. If it is D0, it is a 70. If it is D1, it is a 71.
You would want to not only look for the "D0AE" or "D1AE" casting number on the block for example as stated above, but also for the casting date, which tells you the day/month/year in which it was cast. Sometimes Ford used a casting number for a few years before "re-casting" their molds. Being August was typically the beginning of the new model year, I'd say it would have a 71 casting number as stated above. The casting number would be in the starter motor area of the engine block, and the build date would be located in that area also. I'm not sure if Mavericks had a partial VIN# stamped into the block to verify originality to that particular car, as Mustangs,Torinos, and other 'hi-performance' fords had. I'd say if any, and this is just a guess, that it would be the Grabber,Sprint,Comet-GTs,etc..but I doubt it. I was always curious of that, so if anyone can verify that, I'd love for someone to post that. My car was an Ivy Green 72 Grabber 302 car but it now is undergoing a Boss 351/Toploader swap, and I dont have the original engine to verify. Hope I was of some help, I dont have a chance to get on here as much as I'd like, but I enjoy every minute of it when I do. -Joe
My car was recently totaled out so the engine under my '72 Grabber is not the original. Now that you have me curious i wish i had the original engine laying around somewhere.
