Production Codes

[Preacher]

Did Ford continue the use of production codes found on some items on the 29, 30, 31 Fords in the following years for replacement stock? Model A production codes were J, K, and L. I have some parts with different month codes but with an 'O'. Would this picture then indicate August 1934?

 

[Mike V. Florida]

Funny you should post this. I was about to post a question about numbers on a starter band. Thanks for the answer!

 

[Preacher]

Pluck? ... Anyone?

 

[RonC]

I would think the codes would be manufacturer specific not Ford unless it was a Ford part. The "O 8" is on an Auto-Lite manufactured part. Sometimes the "O" and "I" is omitted in the coding to avoid confusion with "0" and "1". Sometimes the coding is repeated after the year "z". ie A=1946.

By the way Auto-Lite date codes for Model A production are E - 1928; F - 1929;
G - 1930 and H - 1931. For months they used Jan - 1; Feb -2 etc. They did not use O, I, Q or V in any of their date codes. The "O 8" is not a date code on the breaker plate since "O" is not used. In addition they use "number" first then "letter".

 

[RonC]

stewart warner speedometers date codes (month/year)

1 - January
2 - February
3 - March
4 - April
5 - May
6 - June
7 - July
8 - August
9 - September
10 - October
11 - November
12 - December
A - 1909
B - 1910
C - 1911
D - 1912
E - 1913
F - 1914
G - 1915
H - 1916
J - 1917
K - 1918
L - 1919
M - 1920
N - 1921
P - 1922
Q - 1923
R - 1924
S - 1925
T - 1926
U - 1927
V - 1928
W - 1929
X - 1930
Y - 1931
Z - 1932 ​

 

[Steve Plucker]

I would think the codes would be manufacturer specific not Ford unless it was a Ford part. The "O 8" is on an Auto-Lite manufactured part. Sometimes the "O" and "I" is omitted in the coding to avoid confusion with "0" and "1". Sometimes the coding is repeated after the year "z". ie A=1946.

By the way Auto-Lite date codes for Model A production are E - 1928; F - 1929;
G - 1930 and H - 1931. For months they used Jan - 1; Feb -2 etc. They did not use O, I, Q or V in any of their date codes. The "O 8" is not a date code on the breaker plate since "O" is not used. In addition they use "number" first then "letter".

Ron,

Does the above refer to the coil also?

How about the starter and generator bands...I know they were date coded...can you please expand if you know?

Thanks.

Pluck

 

[RonC]

It applies to all Auto-Lite parts. In 1962 they changed to Prestolite with the same date codes. They also used a "week" "year" coding for some customers ie 25-3; week 25 of 1963.

 

[Preacher]

Thank you Ron for the good info and shedding a little light on it.

 

[RockHillWill]

This has been a much discussed issue for years. I have looked at and or handled over 240 starter and generator band in the the last 4 years. Not all the bands that I have looked at have had the numbers on them, but those that did were marked in the same size and the same 'font' and usually quite pronounced.

It seems to be common knowledge that J='29, K='30 and that L= '31. I have seen at least (2) 'M's.

The numbers and the letters were stamped in a position that is across the band width as opposed to the long way, but It interesting to me that the letter did not always precede the number, or vice versa. While they all seem to appear across the band 'width', they do not always read the same. Some are up side down.

The real issue seems to be weather this was actually a 'Ford' issue / requirement or a supplier issue. Last month I was at a table next to a gentleman at the Benson research center when he excitedly leaned over to me and showed me a Ford drawing that had a note on it instructing the suppliers to date these bands in this manner.

Just a thought!

 

[RonC]

Ford would certainly have the ability to mandate suppliers to use a Ford dating system instead of their own. You could end up with Ford dating on some parts and manufacturer dating on other parts Ford didn't care to date. I guess what's needed is what parts did Ford specify date and or manufacturer identifications on?

 

[Steve Ciccalone]

I looked at two Ford Script SP straight pole coils yesterday. One was stamped "3 Y" in the usual font as Will mentioned. Counting from "L" in 1931 this would make it a March 1941 coil, assuming the "O, Q and V" were not used. The second was "B 7". The "B" was a significantly larger font size than the "Y" and was a much shallower stamping. Perhaps after reaching Z, the code simply reverted to "A", but in a different font.

I assume there was a manufacturers' association for makers of automotive electrical equipment that established standards like SAE and created the date codes as it seems the same on all the different brands of A coils I've seen.