My Car Was Built When??

Frank Nemo

Frank Nemo

Senior Member
I know the stamp date on my engine was 5/6/30. The engine number is A3340XX8. The car, a Sport Coupe was manufactured in San Francisco (SFA4447). It has an oval speedometer and therefore is an early 1930 car.

What I don't know is when the engine would have been shipped to San Franciso, how long the shipping trip would have taken and how quickly the engine would have been linked up to the frame.

I realize the world doesn't turn on me finding out these answers, but I just want to know a little bit more about my car.

Thanks for any informatiion.
 
Frank,
Check with Steve Plucker's sight, at the top of the page, tons of info,
great sight. Under,...RESEARCH DATA AN TECHNICAL ARTICLES
 
Frank,

Go to my site and go to the Bill of Sale file.

Then look up the San Francisco Assembly Plant.

Then go down the Assembly Plant Bill of Sale list till you get to May 1930.

The numbers represented in the chart gives you an idea about just how fast engines were assembled and shipped from Dearborn to San Francisco to be assembled into a Model A Ford.

Granted anything is possible but this gives you an idea of the time.

Wish I had more data to incorporate into the charts from other dealerships.

Pluck
 
Pluck, thanks for your reply. When it comes to the subject of build dates, you're the man. I did go to your site and established that my engine was stamped on May 6, 1930. I than went to your charts that shows engine stamp date, date invoiced to the dealer (which I assume indicates the car had been completed). I than looked at engine stamp dates close to mine. Two cars with stamp dates of 5/2 were invoiced on 5/16, one with a stamp date of 5/7 was invoiced on 5/14. How did they get those engines to SFA so that their cars would be completed and invoiced in 7 to 9 days?

There must be something I don't understand, but I am anxious to learn.
 
Frank Nemo said:
Pluck, thanks for your reply. When it comes to the subject of build dates, you're the man. I did go to your site and established that my engine was stamped on May 6, 1930. I than went to your charts that shows engine stamp date, date invoiced to the dealer (which I assume indicates the car had been completed). I than looked at engine stamp dates close to mine. Two cars with stamp dates of 5/2 were invoiced on 5/16, one with a stamp date of 5/7 was invoiced on 5/14. How did they get those engines to SFA so that their cars would be completed and invoiced in 7 to 9 days?

There must be something I don't understand, but I am anxious to learn.
Click to expand...

Ford was constantly shipping parts daily from Dearborn...either by train or by ship. I read somewhere that 80 trains left Dearborn per day...I don't know but that is a lot of parts going in all directions each day!

Wish I had a better answer for you.

Pluck
 
Frank Nemo said:
I than looked at engine stamp dates close to mine. Two cars with stamp dates of 5/2 were invoiced on 5/16, one with a stamp date of 5/7 was invoiced on 5/14. How did they get those engines to SFA so that their cars would be completed and invoiced in 7 to 9 days?
Click to expand...

The key is "first in, last out", or more importantly to your question is the other end of the equation i.e., last in, first out. That means that the last engines (not necessarily in numerical sequence) loaded into the shipping container/medium would be the first out when reaching the destination. If the receiving branch was in need of engines then the first out would head straight for the line.

The engine installation point on the assembly line was very near final assembly of the vehicle. That means it was just a matter of hours from the time the engine was dropped in the chassis and the vehicle was completed, invoiced, and staged for shipment to the receiving dealer.

Keep in mind that the opposite holds equally true meaning that if your engine was first in, last out then there could be considerable delay between engine stamping and installation in a vehicle. However the time period you are looking at was still a fairly high production period and the average time from stamping to vehicle seems to be 30 days or maybe less. Just a few months later that time nearly doubled due vehicle production (sales) dropping while engine production remained nearly the same.
 
First of all thankyou to all who replied, especially Steve Plucker and Marco Tahtaras. From the information you have provided it appears my car was completed on May 14, 15 or 16. That is close enough 81 years later.

Thanks again!
 
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