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Factory screw up?

JeffTepper

JeffTepper

Well-Known Member
Friends of mine have asked me to go through their car to assess its potential for restoration. Here's the background: it's a '67 that they bought used in 1969 and have owned it for the past 41 years. The car has not been modified during the time that they have owned it. The original data tag shows the body type as a "65B" which is a hardtop with decor bucket seats. The car clearly has all the components of the interior decor group except the door mounted courtesy lights appeared to be missing. A bit of investigation revealed that the deluxe interior door panel is dated within 2 weeks of the car's scheduled build date (probably the original door panel) and the wiring harness for the door courtesy lights is present inside the door, yet no courtesy lights. When I pulled off the lower door grill, I discovered the following:

24_09_10_10_11_30_40.JPG


Compounding this curiosity, the data tag lists the trim code as "2A" which decodes to "Standard Bucket black" Since this car was a 65B body type, the correct trim code should be "6A" for "Decor Bucket Black". So did one assembly worker see the 65B and start to install the door courtesy lights but another assembly worker saw the 2A and buttoned up the door without installing the courtesy light? Got any other ideas?
 
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Interesting. Did the car have the AM/FM radio or 8-track stereo? That would explain the door grills without the lights. So like you said, maybe one worker marked the door for cutting for the light and the next worker installed the grill without cutting for the light.

Frank
 
Frank:
The car came with an AM radio and one dash mounted speaker and one rear speaker. There are no speakers in the doors. The markings in the photo are consistent, position wise, with the courtesy light opening in the lower door grill, the speaker opening would be farther forward in the door.
 
are the screw holes for the grille panel in the door square with plastic inserts or just a drilled hole? IIRC, the factory punched square holes and used a plastic insert for the screw to go into (kinda like the ones for licence plate screws but smaller). If they are just drilled it could be that someone was adding the parts in that short time span that the current owners didn't own it...?
 
I have those plastic inserts for the door grills in my doors so I know what you are talking about. However, remember that the rest of the interior decor group (Brushed aluminum dash and door panels, upper console with map lights, seat buttons, fiberglass front seat backs, vinyl covered quarter panels with chrome corner caps, lower door grills, vinyl covered shifter handle, courtesy light wiring harnesses through door jambs) are all present plus the data tag (which does have the correct VIN) does refer to the body type as 65B. Lastly, the date stamp on the back side of the deluxe door panels is two weeks prior to the scheduled assembly date for the car. Does anyone know whether or not the courtesy light holes were pre-cut or cut on the assembly line as needed? If precut, Ford would then have three part numbers for the door shell assemblies:
1. no holes;
2. one hole (for courtesy light);
3. two holes, (one for courtesy light and one for stereo speaker).

Does the factory assembly manual indicate which way things were done?

Short of a Marti report, I guess all we can do is speculate......
 
does your's look "cut" or stamped out? Seams like they would have been more precise than manually cutting them on the line but I have no idea how they did it. very interesting find.
 
My car came with the 8-track option, so it got the door grills from the factory. My doors have no plastic inserts, just holes drilled.

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It looks like they used a hole saw at the lower forward corner, then cut the hole out for the speaker. I'm guessing my brother added the lights, as I don't have the decor group and I'm sure Ford wouldn't have included the lights just for the heck of it.

Frank
 
"JeffTepper" said:
Frank:
The car came with an AM radio and one dash mounted speaker and one rear speaker. There are no speakers in the doors. The markings in the photo are consistent, position wise, with the courtesy light opening in the lower door grill, the speaker opening would be farther forward in the door.
Click to expand...

So that raises the question: why would the second worker install a grille with no light and no speaker? I mean if he saw it come down the line marked for a light to be installed and no speaker installed, why would he even install the grill? Just to cover up the apparent screw-up of the previous line worker? And why wouldn't he question why it was marked for the light? Maybe they were out of lights on the line and he said "screw it".

Frank
 
The strike was in November '67 ('68 model year).

Jeff, is this a San Jose car? If not, you might look for a build sheet. I'd think the line workers would refer to the build sheet, not the data plate.

Frank
 
Frank - Yes this is a San Jose car and the rectangle and the word "cut" were scratched into the door with something like an awl so I am suggesting the grill might have been used to hide the blemish even though the courtrsy light wiring harness was left in place.
 
Like Crustry's car bought to flip, a 67 cvt that had nothing but an 8 track for option. It had the grilles and the speakers but no lights.
 
Our 68 had the original AM/FM radio with the grill and door speakers, but NO lights. From the info I've found, that was the way the AM/FM option came. I believe the lights were installed on the deluxe interior only.
 
Looks like a factory blunder. The holes I have seen for the plastic inserts are usually perfectly square, so I would have to say there were specific inner door structures for deluxe interior cars.
 
"caspian65" said:
Looks like a factory blunder. The holes I have seen for the plastic inserts are usually perfectly square, so I would have to say there were specific inner door structures for deluxe interior cars.
Click to expand...

Do you know why some have the plastic inserts and some (like mine) only have drilled holes?

Frank
 
I've only had one apart and it was definatly not a crudely job done on the assembly line. It had perfectly square holes as well. I was surprised to some of these that were poorly done. They must have run out of the unique stampings or maybe only Dearborn plant had them? Very curious now.
 
"caspian65" said:
Looks like a factory blunder. The holes I have seen for the plastic inserts are usually perfectly square, so I would have to say there were specific inner door structures for deluxe interior cars.
Click to expand...

Charles:

FWIW, I finally got around to pulling up the original carpeting/underlayment and underneath I found 6 of the white plastic inserts (unused) on the driver's side rear foot well so someone on the assembly line apparently went so far as to grab them and place them inside the car but not further.....

Regards, Jeff
 
Here is what the door from a 67 coupe that I parted out 6 years ago looked like.

DoorShell3.JPG
 
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