Mustang off the line number

My Foxbody obsession started with my first car which is a rusted 86 GT convertible. It has a spot on the top of the radiator support that reads #86 30 May 1986. I always assumed my car was the 86th off the line from that and I thought that it's pretty cool to be the same number off the line as it's year is. I even celebrate her birthday with some burnouts. I also have been wondering how accurate that is. Maybe the previous owner just wrote it on there years ago. Did Ford actually do that with their cars? I've never noticed it done before. Watch with my luck and stupidity every foxbody has this on it and I've just never noticed. Picture posted

I want to preserve this little spot because I'm officially starting the restoration process and want to know if it's worth anything to keep that spot like it is now.
 

Attachments

  • SmartSelect_20201013-162359_Instagram.jpg
    SmartSelect_20201013-162359_Instagram.jpg
    393 KB · Views: 106
Last edited:
  • Sponsors (?)


What are the last numbers of your VIN#. I always thought that was the production number. Maybe the last 5 or 6 digits.
Edit:
Found this
8FF7235B-5FAF-4EC1-AEAF-E3536A257436.jpeg
 
Last edited:
I seem to recall the month and day was stamped on the radiator support in a very faint yellow ink.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Mine says MO in three different spots. Was about to sand this off...unless someone can tell me the significance

Btw, if you get a marti report, the deluxe report will tell you when the car was built. Mine was Feb 10th, 1988...but I don’t see any correlation to what’s written below

EAB17F08-631F-48BE-9C99-A20FC5046063.jpeg
 
I seem to recall the month and day was stamped on the radiator support in a very faint yellow ink.
That's interesting. Maybe that day they didn't have that stamp machine running and took a sharpie to it. Or maybe since it was early off the line they did it. But early off the line wouldn't make sense because obviously, 85-86 isn't a very different car.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
I think that marker is the marker they use in a junkyard. The part of your car that was crushed by an 18 wheeler has a used part cut from another crushed car from spot #86 of the junkyard. Yours too Mike! :rlaugh: :hide:
 
  • Wow
  • Haha
Reactions: 1 users
I think that marker is the marker they use in a junkyard. The part of your car that was crushed by an 18 wheeler has a used part cut from another crushed car from spot #86 of the junkyard. Yours too Mike! :rlaugh: :hide:
Most junk err, salvage yard parts I've dealt with has a number, sometimes 5 or more characters long that traces back to the vehicle it was removed from.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
I ordered a report for my car, it said they produced 88 Mustangs that day and mine was #87.
Nobody knows that info (what order made on any particular day), not even Ford. So #87 of 88 that day is made up. I know how they make the number up and their logic is flawed. Ford didn't make cars in the order claimed on those reports, or on certificates.
 
  • Like
  • Informative
Reactions: 1 users
They made ~211,000 Mustangs for the 1988 model year. I don't know the production cutoff dates for that model year, but lets assume that was for a full 365 days of production...that's almost 600 mustangs a day.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: 2 users