i hate to burst your bubble but your car was actually number 172,457 off the assembly line. which actually makes it about mid year production i'd think. Ford didn't number the different models in a consecutive order, they only numbered the cars as a whole as they rolled the line, technically they really didn't even do that, it was more like they numbered the ORDERS consecutively, the car could appear any where on the line and could have been pulled off the line at any point in production if they had a part shortage as well. basically your car was actually number 172, 457 ordered for 1969.