Shipping destination on factory order form

[studegary]

Undoubtedly so, Duane; and Redwood Falls MN is a whole lot closer to your Iowa home, the car's current residence, than any fictitional Redwood Falls, Montana! That's a cool license plate tag, too; quite a find and nice to have.

Christmas this year revealed another possible production-line variance. You may have read of my receiving a Marti Report for my 1973 Mustang convertible for Christmas, essentially a deluxe Production Order with a detailed anaylsis of rarity as to options and configurations.

The Mustang is about as original as you could hope for: It is still on all five production line tires, and I even have the production line battery for it, although it it quite useless, of course, being 39 years old. I will have owned the car 36 of its 39 years this coming Sunday (January 8, 2012). I watched it turn 17,000 miles as I drove it home January 8, 1976. It is now exactly 17,894.

The Marti Report matches the car perfectly with one exception: It says it was ordered with the DeLuxe, rim-blow steering wheel, but it has the standard steering wheel, not the DeLuxe wheel. 'Always has, to the best of my knowledge.

So that means one of three things happened:

1. They were out of tilt-wheel steering columns assembled with rim-blow wheels the day it was made, so they just installed a standard-wheel column. (It does have the tilt wheel specified on the P.O.)

2. The Marti Report indicates the car was shipped February 1, 1973, but was not sold until August 31, 1973. That means it was in the selling dealer's stock a full seven months. During that time, the dealer may have exchanged its steering wheel to make a sale on another 1973 Mustang in stock where the customer wanted a DeLuxe wheel.

3. The production line simply overlooked the specified DeLuxe wheel and installed a tilt column with a standard wheel.

I'd bet #3 is right, but, of course, have no way of proving it. After all, we know how attentive Detroit and the UAW-types were to detail in the early 1970s, right? (And this convertible was built at Dearborn Assembly!) <GGG> BP

Knowing all of the swaps that we made on new and used cars, I would say that your #2 is most likely. I saw VERY few of the #3 type mistakes (not counting my own car).

[BobPalma]

Knowing all of the swaps that we made on new and used cars, I would say that your #2 is most likely. I saw VERY few of the #3 type mistakes (not counting my own car).

One reason I lean away from #2, Gary, is history I didn't mention.

I bought the car from a girl who bought it at the selling dealer as a "bosses' wife's" car. We all know how that goes, but she was told (and I have reason to believe) that somebody's wife pretty high up at the dealership used it as her personal car during the spring of 1973. That's why it wasn't retailed until the end of August, and it was equipped as somebody's wife/girl friend might have specified.

If she was out running around in it for 4,000-5,000 miles in the spring and summer of '73, and I'll bet she was, it wouldn't have been on the lot, in stock, for a steering wheel swap. Too, the wheel was (and is) perfect; no scratches, marks, or blemishes around the backside center section to suggest it has ever been off the car. BP

[JBOYLE]

Two questions...one Stude, one non-Stude

Non-Stude
Bob, where was the Mustang assembled? Dearborn or San Jose?

Stude question...
My Avanti's build sheet lists a dealer...how confident can I be that it actually went there? Did it ever change do to a cancellation or something?
And is there a way to check if the name on on the console plaque was the first owner...aside from finding a period city directory for the city the build order indicates?

[BobPalma]

Two questions...one Stude, one non-Stude

Non-Stude
Bob, where was the Mustang assembled? Dearborn or San Jose?

Stude question...
My Avanti's build sheet lists a dealer...how confident can I be that it actually went there? Did it ever change do to a cancellation or something?
And is there a way to check if the name on on the console plaque was the first owner...aside from finding a period city directory for the city the build order indicates?

Dearborn, John (I mentioned that in the last line of the post.)

Chances are pretty good that your Avanti went to the dealer listed on the P.O., but there's no guarantee of it. Dealers did trades and P.O.s sometimes got handwritten "corrections" for any variety of reasons. BP