1967 Shelby Master Assembly Bookl

Patty,

Some general comments on the oddities in this book from an engineering perspective:

1) The lettering in the title blocks appear to be recreations done on a computer. The lettering is just too good. Even if the letters were drawn with a “Leroy” ink set, there should be some variation from letter to letter. The is no variation between letters.

2) One person could produce that many drawings in a day if that was the day he finished them. Just because the drawings all have the same date doesn't mean that they were all started and finished on the same day. The draftsman could have and probably did start them many days ahead of the date listed in the title block.

3) Most drawings have missing parts lists. I say this since the drawings have “find numbers” or “balloons” directing the reader to numbered items on the list. An installation drawing without its parts list is only half a drawing.

4) The parts lists for those drawings that do have them look to be recreations. Since the drawings were done in the pre-CAD era, I'd expect them to be hand lettered or inked. The supplied lists look like they were produced with a word processor.

I believe that the drawings themselves are accurate. However, since we are not looking at actual copies of the originals, it is difficult to say with any certainty that the information in the title block is accurate. I'd really need to see the complete original set of drawings for these cars to pass judgment on the overall accuracy of what we see in the book. So yes, we should check and see what else is out there. I'll check a couple of sources.

 

My take on the assembly manual is that is kind of useful, and at the same time kind of not. And, I did notice the dates on the sheets. Must be helpful for the late assembly cars.
I used to build subway cars for Pullman-Standard. The first cars where sort of hand built. Being an electrician, they had an idea where they wanted certain equipment. After you installed it , some engineer/draftsman would come out, look, measure, and then draw up how the rest of the order would be. I figure the S/A plant was likely the same way.

 

The book is a collection of actual blueprints that many people (including myself) have. Not all the available blueprints are in the book. Attached to some of my copies are the lists of parts that are hinted at in the book. My take is that these drawings were requested by Ford or Shelby as they were preparing to close up shop and move to Michigan. There are some interesting anomalies in them and some mistakes. Seems that the draftsman was not particularly familiar with all the details of assembly.

 

Hamiltoncox,
Is there any chance I could get copies of what you have (I'll reimburse you)? I've been collecting factory part number information for over 20 years. The '67 parts are the least documented and what you have could fill in some of the gaps. Feel free to PM me if you'd like. Thanks.