1968 shelby serial #s

The short answer is the Ford number and the Shelby numbers were assigned randomly and do not always fall into strict numerical order.

I have extensively researched this and found the first five 1968 Shelbys were built in September of 1967. They were built by Ford before the UAW strike and completed by AO Smith as "pilot" cars. They were all assigned production serial numbers. You are correct, the car assigned Shelby number 339 was likely the first GT350 fastback built. Generally speaking, the earlier the Ford number, the earlier the Shelby number will be, but it is not a strict rule. You will note these five cars all have Ford consecutive unit numbers which precede yours.

When the strike ended on November 11, 1967, Ford continued production and your car was likely in that early group of cars.

I would be interested in sharing more with you, because early cars have many unique features.

Coralsnake68@hotmail.com


http://www.thecoralsnake.com/Productionchanges

http://www.thecoralsnake.com/first.htm

 

pete is absolutely correct. The 350 verts actually dont start until #301

 

I am of the opinion that the cars were typically "started" in sequential order how ever the cars many times were finished in a different order from when the were started for a variety of reasons. The "finish" date also referred to as the "build date" is the only date we have records of . The cars were not built from bare metal unibody to running driving car in one day but we only have one date to use which is the finish date. There are any number of reasons why a car could have been started but left for days weeks or even months because of parts ,paint ,etc. and not completed. If you take into consideration a start date and a different finish date (build date) it would explain the seemingly puzzling inconsistency between a lower sequential car being finished AFTER a higher sequential serialized car. Just my opinion.

 

Just gonna jump in with a theory or thought cause many of you know much more about these cars then I do. But the door tag normally has the build/finish date which was hardly ever the day they actually were done. But with this tag not carrying the Shelby sequential number and only the Ford one I would think that is the date the car was completed by Ford which it would then have a secondary finish date when it was done at the A.O. Smith plant which when A.O. Smith then got a shipment of cars they just grabbed one small or big block what ever they needed not taking them from the Ford sequential order thus resulting in lower Shelby number with a later Ford one and visa versa

 

You are correct 1968 Shelbys have two different build dates.

Cars were scheduled, assembled and built by Ford. Ford did not assign numbers in strict numerical order. Two cars on the production line could be a 1000 serial numbers apart. These cars were loaded on rail cars and shipped to Smith ( read, they were further jumbled). They were then stored in a holding lot until needed.

Smith built cars on their own schedule, they didnt care about Ford numbers.

So, its easy to see why a few cars are jumbled.

 

I have another unpopular theory. That is Ford did not leave it up to Smith to assign the Shelby sequential number . Ford was the one that assigned the Shelby number to a particular car and it was up to Smith to match the car up to the Shelby number Ford had assigned to it. I have evidence to support my theory for 1969 Shelby models and suspect it was done the same way for 1968,1967, and probably 1966 too. Ford involvement brought a ordered way of doing things and I have a hard time thinking they would let things go so haphazard as letting Smith (same can be said to a lesser extent for SA in CA) just pull a random car in and assign a Shelby number to it. They were to organized relatively speaking for that IMHO. Just my opinion I know others may vary.

 

Interesting, can you post a picture of the door data tag for us?


Bill S.

 

I have the pictures from ebay. If the owner wamts them posted, I will do it. Both tags appear to be factory Shelby VIN tags and both have the same serial numbers. Thats quite unusual.

 

Here are the two tags on the DODGEGUYs car. This is very very unusual. My first impression is both tags are original. So, far there is nothing in the known history of the car to indicate otherwise. The one on the apron is a "dual serial number tag". The one screwed to the door is not.

 

From the pictures posted the tags appear genuine to me as well. The repro tags (been around for 30 years which is plenty of time for patina) are slightly differnt in some details.

 

no question thats a real tag IMHO

 

Yes, I would agree it's a real tag, but when did they start using sheet metal screws to hold them on?

Gary