Question

K

kenb43

Junior Member
A friend of mine, we'll call him Steve, has a 1929 Tudor that he bought from the second owner in 1962. He know that the first owner bought the car from a dealership in Shelbyville, IN, about 25-30 mi SE of Indianapolis.

He always believed that the car was built at the Indianapolis assy plant and did not know about the factory code/number stamped on the inside of the car. Until two weeks ago. I helped him find the number and he was stunned to find out that it had an "F" code, indicating that it was built in Detroit.

The question: Why would Shelbyville sell a car built in Detroit when Indy assy. was so close? My guess is that Indy didn't build Tudors in 1929 and the dealer had to get them from Detroit, or somewhere else.

Does anyone have a lead as to how I can find out stuff like that?

Ken Benson
1931 CCPU
Indianapolis
 
Every '29 Tudor I have seen has the Rouge plant F stamp, including my own. Hard to believe they built 500,000 all in Detroit, but maybe the lions share came from there?
Steve Plucker may shed some light if he sees this post.
 
In a 1970's "Restorer" issue, there's a terrific article entitled: "I bought 1,000 Model A Fords". In it, the author describes how the dealership where he worked would send him to the Indianapolis assembly plant with a blank check to buy as many Model A's for the dealership as the plant manager would allow him to purchase. Apparently over a four-year period, he bought 1,000 of them. He took drivers along with him from his town to drive the purchased cars back home in a caravan. He paid them $1.00 a day and all the hamburgers they could eat at the local White Castle Hamburger stand. If THE most popular and best-selling Model A body style during the era was not manufactured at the Indianapolis plant, I should think the author would have mentioned this. Surely among the 1,000 Model A Fords he bought for his dealership, a large percentage would be Tudor Sedans or other closed cars, given the weather in Indiana. You should try to find this two-page article. Very interesting reading.
Marshall
 
My Tudor and most of the A's in our club that I've checked have "TC" for the Twin Cities Ford Assembly Plant, which BTW was just torn down last year.
 
Where is the assembly stamp at, thought it would be cool if my coupe was built at the Columbus plant, still standing today but it's now a Kroger bakery.
 
Nabco said:
Where is the assembly stamp at, thought it would be cool if my coupe was built at the Columbus plant, still standing today but it's now a Kroger bakery.
Click to expand...

Go to my website www.plucks329s.org then go to Additional Studies, then go to Letters, Numbers and Codes...There you can learn all about the assembly plants codes, stampings, and where they are located on the Model A/AA Fords.

Pluck
 
When it comes to the Indy plant, Ford never mentioned it in any of the press news as far as when it opened to start Model A/AA production in 1928 that I have seen. Not in 1929, 1930 or 1931.

However, there is the Ford Service Letters from the Indy plant (1928-1931) describing in depth many of the changes and assembly process,... there is the Assembly Record Types data from 28-31, but no mention of it otherwise...SO..Just why wasn't the Indianapolis Assembly Plant ever mentioned along with all the rest???BIG mystery.

Somebody in the Indy area should do a research project on that one and let me know...BIG MYSTERY!

In 1928, the Indy plant assembled 4290 Tudors; in 1929 it assembled 15383 Tudors; 9960 in 1930; and 3872 in 1931.

It is anybodys guess as to why a Detroit (Fordson) plant assembled car ended up in Shelbyville, IN when they are in the INDY sales area.

It very well could be, and my guess is, that the Fordson assembled Tudor "F" was driven from the Detroit area to Shelbyville in 1929 or 1930 or 1931, and there was traded in on another when the "first" guy in Post #1 bought it.

It is not known if the "first" owner bought it brand new or not.

If by chance this "F" car was actually purchased new in Shelbyville and it was assembled at the Indy plant, maybe...Just maybe there is something Ford is not telling us about the Indy plant!

It would be so much fun to trace these cars from day one and those who successfully can are very lucky to have done so...Not to hijack this thread, but I wonder how many of you out there can absolutly prove the history of your Model A/AA Ford? (I think there has been some other posts on this subject).

Pluck
 
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I have a missing gap in the known history of mine from 1934-1956 and also no hint of where it was made. Rod
 
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