An original shop manual came with my new 60 T-bird. It is dated "First Printing 1959". In describing data plate codes this manual states that "the date code shows the day and month when the Thunderbird was completed". It would seem to me that the date on the upper left of the ROT sheet and the data plate should be the date our cars were completed most of the time. I'm sure things went awry, such as sidelined cars, that occasionally threw that off. The data plates could have been made real time, as cars neared the end of the assembly line. I remember in the service watching my dog tags being made. A Yoeman sat at a typewriter keyboard typing my information and just as fast as he typed the letters and numbers were punched into the metal dog tags. I can easily see this process being used on the assembly line.
Vern
Vern
Comment