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  • GTE427
    Super-Experienced
    • Oct 9 2007
    • 602

    Wixom tag

    Here's the last photos of a 1960 J hardtop number 20877. The owner allowed me to take the data plate and a additional plate that was screwed to the door pillar below the data plate.

    Does anyone recognize this Wixon tag? Thinking it may have been an Assembly line workers brass that was dropped in the car, later found by the owner and screwed to the pillar. Those not familiar with the term brass, I've worked at construction site with so many workers that a 'brass' system was used for time keeping and to track workers. When you report in the morning, ask for your brass, they then record your time and at the end of the day you drop it off as a way to clock out, that was the eighties.

    Maybe Ford workers used this convention at the time. The brass number doesn't correlate with the data plate that I can see. Anyone see this before?

    This car had been owned by an enthusiast, displayed a VTCA decal, so it was being preserved in the seventies or eighties. The car was left at a body shop for work, went unclaimed for twelve years till the last owner bought it two years ago. His intentions were to restore, than sell, finally parted the car. Another one lost.
    Attached Files
    Ken
    1959 J Convertible
    1960 J Hardtop
  • Guest

    #2
    That's a pretty good guess. I wouldn't have thought of that

    Comment

    • Dan Leavens
      Moderator / Administrator


      • Oct 4 2006
      • 6369

      #3
      Ken that is quite some find and something worth investigating. The brass tag should have some meaning from Wixom and it's too bad that is has closed down. Let us know if you find out the purpose of it??

      REgards,
      Dano Calgary,Alberta Canada
      Thunderbird Registry
      58HT #33317
      60 HT (Sold )

      Comment

      • Hawkrod
        Experienced
        • Oct 31 2005
        • 288

        #4
        The brass tag is an inventory ID tag and was originally attached to a piece of asset at the plant. The asset could be anything from a chair in the break room to an impact gun on the assembly line. In the old days business' had to inventory all assets for tax purposes and so you will find those tags on any property owned by a reasonably large company. I have all the assets from an Dr's office from the 1930's through the 1950's and it has the same type of tags with the doctors name. I assume there were companies that went around and inventoried and ID companies assets. I also have an impact from Dearborn with one of those tags and a chair from the San Jose assembly plant with similar tag. Hawkrod

        Comment

        • GTE427
          Super-Experienced
          • Oct 9 2007
          • 602

          #5
          Thanks for the information. Come to think of it I remember tags on all the office furniture of companies I worked from in the the seventies and eighties. Ours were much smaller with the company name and logo, glued on. Now-a-days I don't see the tags anymore, most stuff is now leased.

          Nice little piece of history that must have traveled with that car since it was built.
          Ken
          1959 J Convertible
          1960 J Hardtop

          Comment

          • Alan H. Tast, AIA
            Experienced
            • Jan 5 2008
            • 216

            #6
            Wixom Tag

            I have seen the same kind of tag on a '60 convertible that was owned by former VTCI South East Regional Director Tom Schirra that was at the '95 VTCI South East Regional in Nashville. We couldn't make heads or tails as to why a car would have one of these on it.
            Alan H. Tast AIA, LEED AP BD+C
            Technical Director/Past President, Vintage Thunderbird Club Int'l.
            Author, "Thunderbird 1955-1966" & "Thunderbird 50 Years"

            Comment

            • partsetal
              Super-Experienced
              • Jun 4 2005
              • 852

              #7
              Wixom tag

              I spotted this Wixom tag on a '60 HT door pillar on an ebay listing. Any idea what it represents?
              Carl
              Attached Files

              Comment

              • YellowRose
                Super-Experienced


                • Jan 21 2008
                • 17191

                #8
                Wixom tag

                Woww! I have never seen anything like that before! Maybe Dave, Fuz or Alan knows.. Interesting! It could be a car that was tagged for use by Ford executives... That is the only thing I can think of.

                Ray Clark - Squarebirds Administrator
                The Terminator..... VTCI #11178 ITC #6000 Yellow Mustang Registry (YMR) #12188
                Contact me via Private Message for my email address, or Call (Cell) 210-875-1411

                https://www.squarebirds.org/picture_gallery/TechnicalResourceLibrary/trl.htm
                Faye's Ovarian Cancer Memorial Website.
                https://faye.rayclark.info/index.html

                Comment

                • jopizz
                  Super-Experienced


                  • Nov 23 2009
                  • 8316

                  #9
                  I've seen that tag before but could never figure out what it meant. Maybe Dave would know.

                  John
                  John Pizzi - Squarebirds Administrator

                  Thunderbird Registry #36223
                  jopizz@squarebirds.org 856-779-9695

                  https://www.squarebirds.org/picture_gallery/TechnicalResourceLibrary/trl.htm

                  Comment

                  • simplyconnected
                    Administrator
                    • May 26 2009
                    • 8779

                    #10
                    HA, hahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaa.... It's a brass tag!
                    This is too funny...
                    Every Ford plant keeps track of their equipment for tax purposes, and to keep things straight. In the Rouge, there are LOTS of plants next door to each other. It wouldn't take much for a few guys to go next door and steal a band saw for the plant they are working in, except for the brass tag.

                    Each piece of equipment gets a brass tag with a unique number. For instance, all the drill presses, lathes; any piece of equipment that the plant uses for manufacturing cars. It's Ford's way of keeping inventory of their capital expenses. Robots would get a brass tag IF they are owned by Ford (and not leased). So would presses, conveyors, draw die loaders, floor scrubbers, etc., in the Stamping Plant. Each plant has their own tags.

                    Normally, these brass tags are permanently riveted to the equipment as soon as it comes in the door and it stays on that piece, forever. If a piece of equipment goes out for repair or rebuild (like a 100HP electric motor for a press), it is identified by the brass tag number. The Frame Plant, Stamping Plant and Engine Plant (all in the Rouge) all have heavy presses and they use the same motor rebuilders. So, this is a way for the vendor to keep track of where equipment came from, as well.

                    Cars (product) are not capital expenses. Apparently, someone from the Wixom Assembly Plant thought it might be cute to add a brass tag to this car. I'm sure the car didn't have one on it coming out the plant. Probably, an employee owned the car and put the tag on later. It's funny to see a brass tag outside the plant.

                    BTW, I have an o-l-d drill press in my garage with a brass tag that says, 'A.M.C.' Yep, it was in an American Motors plant in Detroit (when we had American Motors). - Dave
                    Member, Sons of the American Revolution

                    CLICK HERE to see my custom hydraulic roller 390 FE build.

                    "We've got to pause and ask ourselves: How much clean air do we need?"
                    --Lee Iacocca

                    From: Royal Oak, Michigan

                    Comment

                    • jopizz
                      Super-Experienced


                      • Nov 23 2009
                      • 8316

                      #11
                      I saw the same type tag on a '60 convertible years ago. It was mounted on the door pillar also. That would be an odd coincidence if it didn't have anything to do with the car.

                      John
                      John Pizzi - Squarebirds Administrator

                      Thunderbird Registry #36223
                      jopizz@squarebirds.org 856-779-9695

                      https://www.squarebirds.org/picture_gallery/TechnicalResourceLibrary/trl.htm

                      Comment

                      • simplyconnected
                        Administrator
                        • May 26 2009
                        • 8779

                        #12
                        The Rouge has hundreds of vehicles (cars and trucks), for the exclusive use of each plant. They are called, 'pool cars'. Some maintenance vehicles (F-150s and E-150s) never get a license plate because they never drive outside the Rouge (it's 2-1/2 miles square with a railroad and great lakes ship slip). None of these vehicles have brass tags because Ford uses VIN numbers. Every few years Ford sells them off because they are in real bad shape.

                        Executives get 'lease' cars. The attraction for the lease cars is, they come with insurance. Lease cars don't get brass tags, either. - Dave
                        Member, Sons of the American Revolution

                        CLICK HERE to see my custom hydraulic roller 390 FE build.

                        "We've got to pause and ask ourselves: How much clean air do we need?"
                        --Lee Iacocca

                        From: Royal Oak, Michigan

                        Comment

                        • Tailfins4ever
                          Newbie
                          • Jan 3 2014
                          • 9

                          #13
                          Wixom tag

                          Good Morning Gents, You got me to finally register with the site on this one, 'cause I've got the same tag on my 60 hdtp. Mine is located directly below the oval wire opening and is installed very straight and level using 2 black tapered head phillips screws. It seems there are a lot of these tags out there from reading other posts on this forum. Doesn't seem to make sense that it's a joke by one of the line workers. Mine is #1122
                          Steve

                          Comment

                          • simplyconnected
                            Administrator
                            • May 26 2009
                            • 8779

                            #14
                            I forgot to mention, Ford 'pool cars' had their own license plate prefixes, so they could easily be identified as company cars.

                            I worked in many Ford plants and for Body & Assembly Div. If Wixom put brass tags on their cars, that was a mistake that no other assembly plant followed. Brass tags are always permanently riveted in place, not screwed in with Phillips head screws. If Wixom did mount the tags, the same people would mount them (as a function of their job) and they would be in the same place on each car. Again, these are equipment tags. - Dave
                            Member, Sons of the American Revolution

                            CLICK HERE to see my custom hydraulic roller 390 FE build.

                            "We've got to pause and ask ourselves: How much clean air do we need?"
                            --Lee Iacocca

                            From: Royal Oak, Michigan

                            Comment

                            • Alan H. Tast, AIA
                              Experienced
                              • Jan 5 2008
                              • 216

                              #15
                              Originally posted by partsetal
                              I spotted this Wixom tag on a '60 HT door pillar on an ebay listing. Any idea what it represents?
                              Carl
                              I've seen them before on '60 'Birds that I've documented, including a '60 convertible that used to be owned by a former VTCI South East Regional Director. I haven't found out the significance of this tag yet but assume it has something to do with internal accounting, maybe quality control tracking? Remember, over 90,000 '60s were built, plus all of the Lincolns. Perhaps asking if any '60 Lincoln owners have this tag affixed to their cars on the Lincoln Continental Owners Club (LCOC) forum may yield some more info.
                              Alan H. Tast AIA, LEED AP BD+C
                              Technical Director/Past President, Vintage Thunderbird Club Int'l.
                              Author, "Thunderbird 1955-1966" & "Thunderbird 50 Years"

                              Comment

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