First Mustang? Are You Kidding?

Posted January 26 2009 10:00 AM by SMART67
Filed under: Miscellaneous

For as many years as there have been classic Mustang enthusiasts, there has always been someone who wants to prove they have the First Mustang. However - at this writing, it cannot be proven.

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The vehicle identification number is a Mustang's order number - not a physical on the assembly line number.

Just about anyone with a low number Wimbledon White '64 1/2 convertible wants to believe it was the first Mustang off the line. Unfortunately, no paperwork exists to confirm what 1965 Mustang Job 1 on March 9, 1964 was.

This is the warranty plate on Art Cairo's 5F07K100148 hardtop ordered and handcrafted for Henry Ford II. According to one Ford source who was there, it was the fourth unit off the line - but on what day? This has not been confirmed.

Here's the warranty plate from 5F08F100145, which was exported to France. Although this Mustang unit is but three digits away from Art Cairo's 100148 car, it is unlikely they were ever even physically close on the Dearborn line. Again, this is all speculation and cannot be confirmed.

One thing that stands the hair up on the back of my neck faster than anything is Mustang owners claiming to have the first Mustang. News Flash - it cannot be proven, not even by Ford. Why? Because there are no surviving records (to date) that can prove in what order Mustangs physically rolled off assembly lines in three plants from coast to coast.

The six-digit consecutive unit number has always been a misconception with enthusiasts. It is not a consecutive unit number when it comes to the physical order Mustangs rolled off the assembly line. It cannot be proven what physical order Mustangs rolled off Dearborn, San Jose, and Metuchen assembly lines 45 years later. The six-digit consecutive unit number (100001) is an ORDER NUMBER. In other words, 5F08F100001 was the first Mustang ever ordered. Bob Fria's 5F07U100002 was the second Mustang ever ordered. The 5F08F100001 car, which is on display in the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan, is the first Mustang convertible ever ordered. Bob Fria's 5F07U100002 is the first Mustang hardtop ever ordered.

And even these statements will get us into trouble. Why? Because there were Mustang pilot units with Pilot Plant serial numbers produced at the Allen Park, Michigan "Pilot Plant" that were ordered prior to pre-production unit start-up at Dearborn. There were also hand-built prototypes, some of which would not have been serialized at all. Ford would have ordered pilot units with an internal order - and we're not even sure this can be confirmed. There was a first Pilot Plant Mustang unit produced and undoubtedly destroyed once Ford was finished with it. We do know Pilot Plant serialized Mustang units were produced because we're seen engine compartment images with the VIN stamped into the shock tower - not the inner fender.

It was through Mustang historian Bob Fria's own efforts that we know approximately the first 150 to 180 serialized at Dearborn Mustang units were "pre-production" cars, confirming the 5F08F100001 on March 9, 1964 story is not true. And just because Ford insists 5F08F100001 was produced on March 9, 1964 doesn't mean it is true. And just because the Mustang Production Guide, Volume 1, says 5F08F100001 on March 9, 1964 doesn't mean it is true either. It is erroneous information published at a time when we didn't know any different than Ford's official version of what happened.

It is important to remember the consecutive unit number has little to do with what order Mustangs rolled off the assembly line. Sometimes a vehicle identification number is just a vehicle identification number and nothing more. Veicle identication numbers are Ford factory order numbers, which gives these cars identity. And this is all the VIN is.

One number you don't hear addressed much is the Rotation Number, which is the vehicle's physical order number on the line. The Dearborn Assembly Plant, as well as Metuchen and San Jose, used two means of finding Mustang units on the line. The VIN and the Rotation Number. Rotation numbers in 1964 were on the broadcast sheet (computer printout) and the radiator support (written by an acid pencil). If a Mustang's Rotation Number was 762, the Mustang or Fairlane number behind it on the line would have a Rotation Number of 763, then, 764, and so on. Fairlanes in early 1964 were numbered as 1964 model year units and were not consecutively VINed with Mustangs, which were 1965 model year units.

All this said, beware of claims by anyone who says they have the "First Mustang". Until legitimate factory documentation can be unearthed along with photographic proof, it will remain unknown if the first Mustang off the Dearborn line even survives. I invite your thoughts and feelings on this subject. Write to me at Jim.Smart@sorc.com.

Reader Comments:

1. Even the rotation number is not a good indication of the order that the cars came off of the assembly line. It can only be used to determine when in the lineup it was scheduled to go down the assembly line.

The cars were frequently pulled off to a side assembly for things like paint touchup or convertible top installation.

A few years ago I worked for a company that built a system to try and bring the cars back into rotation number sequence. One of the enhancements that I worked on was look ahead for convertibles. This would allow the convertibles to be pulled from the system earlier in the rotation so they could be pulled onto a side line to have the tops installed. The cars would then re-join the main line in rotation order to go to final trim.

gkrone - Posted January 26 2009 10:34 AM

2. I would have to disagree with you about pre-production Mustangs rolling off of the assembly line.
We have newly uncovered information, discovered over the last fourteen months, which will soon be made public through a 1-hour+ video documentary about the history of early Mustang production that contradicts some of your statements.
We have discovered that pre-production Mustangs were hand built, hand assembled and we can tell they were worked on as a group. This proof will not be offered as hearsay. We have the physical evidence through a thorough, filmed disassembly of pre-production Mustang #140. This car, we feel, is probably the one of the first, if not the first pre-production Mustang that was hand assembled in Allen Park. We also have other physical, photographic proof of other Mustangs with higher numbered VINs that have very similar characteristics to those of #140 that also supports our new theory that pre-production Mustangs were assembled as a group and VIN numbers were issued according to the quality of the build and not in the order of production sequence.
In regards to your assessment regarding #001 and #002 being ordered cars, I would like to point out to you the following information about DSOs that was recently written by Bob Fria. "It is generally true that when Ford assigns a VIN number to a chassis, it is in response to a dealer order for a retail unit. It becomes apparent looking at VIN numbers versus DSO (District Sales Order) numbers, that these special use, export and pre-retail-production units had only Ford internal usage DSOs assigned on the Dearborn assembly line. Such cars were then designated to be used for government, Home Office, Ford Transportation Services, export, etc. purposes. DSOs other than Ford internal number designations did not start appearing on data plates until 09C (March 9th) when the Dearborn production line started.
The first known domestic DSO order from a dealer appeared with 100212* on 09C for delivery in the Jacksonville, Florida, district (DSO area 24).
*Ref: Mustang Production Guide, Vol. 1, pg. 59, by Smart & Haskell"
If you watched the recent Barrett-Jackson auction you would have seen cars from the GM Heritage Museum being sold with a bill of sale only with no title or a salvaged title. They were pre-production, prototype, experimental or mule cars. When you watch the filmed documentary of the disassembly of number 140 and supporting photographs of #145 (in France), #170, and #93 you will have to draw your own conclusion of whether or not pre-production Mustangs should have been sold to the public.
In your original book, Mustang Production Guide Vol. 1, you have a car listed, unit #192, which went to Robert Peterson of Peterson Publishing. I read that you found this information directly from Ford archives. It was equipped with a 289 and was a D-code. This would obviously make this car a pre-production car because it went to a magazine publisher for promotional purposes.
After number 192, there is a gap starting with number 193 and ending with number 211. We don't know if any of those cars exist, but we do know that after 45 years #212 still owns the earliest known VIN with a retail DSO. As of today, #212 is the first Mustang accounted for that was built on the assembly line March 9, 1964, the first day of official production.
Also on March 9th Ford was still building cars for Special Use with a DSO of 89 which means Ford Transportation Services. Three cars that were built later in the day on March 9th were unit #240,241, & 242. All 3 were convertibles and all three convertibles were sent to Holman and Moody for race preparation to become official pace cars for the 1964 Indy 500. With that said, it's most likely that the cars between 193 and 211 could have been 05C pre-production cars.
One last note, in reference to number 100002, you state that it was the second Mustang ordered which implys that it was the 2nd Mustang or pre-production Mustang that was built. In our research of documenting pre-production Mustang #140, our claim that it was one of the first if not the first pre-production Mustang built, this can be substantiated by date codes on the original engine which consist of casting date, assembly date and install date. In an article that you wrote in Mustang Monthly about Bob Fria's Mustang #2 you wrote- "Several months later, William Schoeman bought 100002 from his son. The Mustang then underwent a number of restoration efforts, including a repaint in gray and a replacement engine, until it was sold in 1984."
Does this mean that Mustang #2 does not have its original engine?
With all due respect to all parties involved, with regard to substantiating a car’s original build date, it is highly unlikely that if a pre-production car does not have the original engine it was installed with, then documentation of the actual day that the car was finished would be very difficult at best.
The fact that pre-production cars were all given a common build date of 05C, which all current research has disproven, we know that pre-production cars were being built starting in late January/February. Having the original engine in the vehicle is critical.

In conclusion:
When this video documentary is released, it will change what is now “known” about pre-production cars as well as early assembly line production cars. In addition, current judging standards will also need to be changed to reflect this newly uncovered information.

classicmusclecars - Posted January 28 2009 05:48 PM

3. very interested in your video, when will it be available and will you ship internationally?

Cruzn65 - Posted January 28 2009 10:09 PM

4. The point of my blog is the unknowns of 45 years ago. It cannot be proven any early 1964 1/2 Mustang was the first off the line - pilot, pre-production or mass-production. Until legitimate factory paperwork surfaces with specific information (VINs) along with some kind of photographic proof, it will be virtually impossible to prove what the first Mustang actually was.

Phases of production make it confusing too. Pilot units with an "S" plant code - none of which has surfaced. Then - the 150 to 180 pre-production units at Dearborn. Then, mass production start-up on Monday, March 9th. First Mustang of what - Pilot, Pre, or Mass? And - to make things more complex - were any of them mixed into mass production?

As we learned with the Mustang Production Guide, published in 1993, you have to be careful about what you put in writing or in a video, which will be around for a long time to come. We published what we believed to be true in the MPG, Volume 1 in 1993 - 5F08F100001 on Monday, March, 9, 1964. We related what we were told by Ford. However, that has been found not to be true based on extensive research performed by Bob Fria.

Fria has performed more research on this subject than anyone we know. He has collected a lot of data and spoken with people who were there at the time. I am confident of his findings and have had a lot of fruitful conversations with him.

All anyone has to do is examine 100001, 100002, 100148 and so on and glean sheet metal stamping dates, engine and transmission casting dates, to understand these cars did not roll off the Dearborn line on March 9th. And this transcends Bob's 100002 car, which may not have the original engine. Bob's research extends well beyond his own car.

Captain Stanley Tucker, who bought 5F08F100001, did so well before April 17th based on an interview I conducted with him in 1984 and again in 1993. He did not confirm an exact date. Captain Tucker died last June in Canada.

What I am suggesting is simple. Be careful about what you say about any given pre-production Mustang because despite everyone's best research efforts, it still cannot be proven which of these Mustangs was the first off the Dearborn line.

That said, it cannot be proven at this writing what the VIN of Job 1 on March 9th was either. We invite anyone with legitimate factory documentation to come forward. We're eager to know the truth as much as anyone else.

We'd also like to see a Job 1 photo from Dearborn on March 9, 1964. Because we've never seen a Mustang Job 1 photo from Dearborn anywhere in period print media, including Ford's own "Ford World" employee newsletter, which can be found in the Henry Ford Museum archives, we're convinced a photo may never have been taken.

We invite your feedback on this one. If you can confirm "first Mustang" status via factory documentation, photos, anything that would concrete confirm, we'd like to hear from you. Feel free to write to me at Jim.Smart@sorc.com. Eager to bat it around with you. Maybe we will both learn something new.

SMART67 - Posted January 31 2009 06:42 PM

5. Jim, most of us involved in this research, and there are a few, understand cars. We can take one apart as well as put it back together again. We are car guys. If you do an autopsy on a body to determine the cause of death, you can basically do the same when you disassemble a car, you can determine how it was built and when. We have done our homework here. Again, I will state we can prove pre-production cars were hand built through physical evidence, we don't need factory paperwork. With physical inspection you can determine which car was built before others using comparisons from other pre-production cars. We have determined that #140 is the earliest built that is known to date and possibly the first pre-production 05C car hand built, not on an assembly line.

Pre-production cars were not built with retail DSO's. #212 was. As of today, no one can disprove it was the first Mustang that rolled off the Assembly line, March 9th, 1964. It also was sold and delivered on the night of April 16th 1964, prior to the official first day of sales April 17th, which makes it the first Mustang in the United States that was known to be sold . There is more circumstantial evidence by records, history and physical proof that points to it being the first one built on the first day of official production. When we release our video documentary you will have some of the questions answered that you have asked, also you will have a piece of photographic physical proof to distinguish #212 as being #1 off the assembly line.

You and Bob Fria have done a tremendous amount of research on the Mustang. You both have laid some of the ground work of which we have followed However our new research is based on physical proof and comparisons of other pre-production Mustangs and early production Mustangs. When our documentary is released it will change what is currently known about pre-production Mustangs and early built assembly line production Mustangs.

classicmusclecars - Posted February 3 2009 05:59 PM

6. I am looking forward to seeing the video that will be coming out and learning what you guys have found. What ever statements are being said here, I will be looking forward to comparing notes with my early production convertibles 5f08f100280 and 5f08u100465 to see if the statements hold water. :-)
www.1964mustangs.com Chuck

1964mustangs.com - Posted February 9 2009 12:31 PM

7. Hey classicmusclecars,

Do you have a release date for the documentary yet? It sounds like great information and history to learn.

If you don't want to post that here, you're more than welcome to contact Jim through the address he mentioned above or the magazine at mustang.monthly@sorc.com

Greg
Mustang Monthly web producer

cmr/gclark - Posted February 20 2009 08:52 AM

8. Hi Greg,

I will contact both of you, thanks.

Tony

classicmusclecars - Posted February 25 2009 07:17 AM

9. First time to site. I have a 5F08F157744 what does that really tell me.

I also have model
76A y 42 06F 42 16

Any help of finding out what these number mean?

Thanks
Mrsh216

mrsh216 - Posted May 2 2009 11:07 AM

10. Does anyone know of anyone who provides financing for classic mustangs? I have my eye on a 66 she's a beauty with 92k original miles very detailed owners log the owners asking 7k I don't want to let her get away. I have a good job midrange FICO scores and I'm willing to go 10-15% on loan of 7k for a short term loan any interested parties please let me know.

Mustanglvr867 - Posted March 2 2013 12:58 AM

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