VIN Sequence number... how close is your car to someone else's???

Question for you Paul. If there were 127,833 '69.5s, wouldn't the last one be 227833? These two are above that number by a bit.

0X91T231276 -doncomfort (UNK)
0X91T234851 -mav1970

 

The book I have actually lists the 69.5's separately, under the 1969 model year. It has the following note:

So what this means is that the VIN sequence number could climb up to the total number of Full-Size Fords, Fairlanes, Falcons and Mavericks. Since each model was simultaneously produced, none of the individual model VINs (e.g. Mavericks) would necessarily be sequential. There would be many Falcons, etc peppered into (and using up) Serial Numbers along the way.

If we only consider Falcon and Maverick Series, we can make the following statement:

Total 1969 Falcon Production = 63,550
Total 1969 Maverick Production = 127,833

Total = 191,383 (and that's without accounting for Full-Size Fords)
​

Using this logic, a Maverick could have the potential of having a Serial Number of up to 291,383 in 1969. Probably higher, if you were to add the Full-Size Fords and Fairlanes too. It would all depend on how many of each model was built before all the Mavericks were built.

Basically it's because Maverick was a mid-year introduction and did not have it's own Series Numbering. That's my best explanation, I hope it makes sense.

 

Just bought a 1970 (fairly early)

Vin = 0K91U155333

SPark

 

The 69½ Maverick were VINed as 1970 and should not have shared their sequence with the 1969 Falcon, with the '70, yes...

I dunno what other Ford model KC produced in '70s but I've see info stating that all the full Size Country Squire station wagons were built there, if so they would have also shared a VIN sequence...

 

Thanks for sharing your VIN, SPark!:Handshake

I'm just going by what the book says (see attachment). Taking into consideration the "1970" Mavericks, they must have continued on with the same numbering scheme, as the Serials are all higher than the "1969 1/2". If that's the case, the 70 Falcons would have started again with their own Serial Sequence, leaving the Mavericks to finish-off the one started in early 69, which included the Falcons. I know what you're getting at, but the book clearly makes a separation between 1969 and 1970--even though they were both 1970 models. I need some caffeine

From our limited (hopefully somewhat representative) sample of numbers in this thread, it appears the St. Thomas cars are the only ones "over".

I agree. That's the theory of my explanation, or the explanation of my theory.

 

I was thinking that maybe the KC plant switched to '70s while the St. Thomas plant continued to produce '69.5s a bit longer...seeing as I have a '70 that is #229190...lower than those two '69.5s on the list. Mine was KC while the others were St. Thomas.

 

Dates are not inferred by Serial Numbers. Yours could have been Serialized during 69.5 production, but not built until after the switchover to 70. A Marti Report would show these dates.

Do you know when your car was built/finished? Your VIN is only a few thousand off of the last few 69.5's on the list. I remember reading somewhere recently that Maverick production saw up to 1050 cars per day being built, so it wouldn't be out of the question to have a car serialized, then sit for a few days or even months (as some Marti reports have revealed) then get finished after the 69.5 to 70 switch (i.e. ignition switch location change).

All very interesting points you are bringing up.

 

Yeah I have that same book, put it back on the shelf after looking at the 1969 Mavericks that don't exist...

With the 1st model for the year starting at 0K91*100001 and every Maverick titled as 1970, I can't see how any '69 totals could be mixed in, which means until actual '70 production began, the early Mav was all by it's self... That doesn't mean they weren't continuing to build the 69½ Mavs until well after the production of other '70 models had already began... When there is production of two or more Ford or Mercury models at the same plant, the consecutive VIN will be intertwined between models...

BTW Kansas City was building Fairlanes & Torinos until early March '69, if memory serves me, those '69 VINs passed 204000(I'll check)...

EDIT highest with date(Mar 3) is 204859, there is one at over 206000 but I don't have a date for for that car ..

When one starts talking calendar year production, the numbers take on a whole new presence as parts of two model years are counted...

 

That would no doubt be correct, I doubt the actual change was the same day, maybe within a week or two at best... Anyway sequence at each plant is for that plant only, numbers at St Thomas have no bearing on the KC production...

 

St.thomas was the pilot plant for Mavericks, production started april 1969, I can get the exact date when I get home. I have books from the plant, one of my customers gave me. He was a engineer there.

 

Maybe I need to get a much more detailed Marti Report to find out if my 69.5 sat around for a few months before being built in late October 1969, after the 1970 version was introduced in September - could never figure this out

 

I did think of you when I wrote that. There was another member on here in the last couple of months with a Marti Report that showed a car sitting around for literally months, I just can't remember who. Something tells me it was a 73??

You should be able to pay for the 'upgrade' on your Marti Report.

 

I'll guess there was no real fanfare given the locking steering column, dealers probably received notice that starting xx date it was included... Anyone know for sure?...

Also I'd bet there are probably a few thousand '70s that were serialized well before the actual change over... Does Marti even have info on whether a build is a '69½ or a true 1970???

BTW if you dig around there is a 69½ VIN in this article(paragraph six if you don't feel like reading the whole thing)

http://www.themaverickpage.com/My_Mavericks/First_Car/first_car.html

 

On the Marti Report mine is listed only as a 1970 but it has the ignition under the dash

 

After reading the first couple paragraphs, I remembered that my 69 1/2 also came with 13 inch wheels - 4 lug