matt506

Ok super excited about working on this car. As I start to buy and collect parts my biggest question is what time or date period should I be buying parts marked with date codes? I know for a fact when the car was sold from the dealer and delivered from the original finance papers. Should Cars from spring of 68 have a mix of late 67, early 68 parts? Matt

droldsmorland

What's the build date say on the cowl tag?
Rule of thumb is anywhere from a few days to a week up to a month or so prior to that build date.
A September car will have August parts. A May car will have April parts etc...

rcorrigan5

I agree with droldsmorland with the exception that I would use the general rule of up to 2 months prior to the build date. As well, in general, anything within 6 months of your build date would be acceptable. I have a '68 4-4-2 convertible that has been in my family since it was new. It's a Lansing car with an 04A build date (first week of April 1968). The original block is the "oldest" part on the car with a cast date of "304", or the 304th day of 1967 (11/1/67). That's 5 months before the car was built! On the other hand, the original steering box has a cast date of "92", or the 92nd day of 1968 (4/1/68) and the steering box cover has a date of "95" (4/4/68). Both the steering box and its cover are right on top of the build date of the car. Nearly everything else on my car with stamped or cast dates is within 2 months of the build date of the car.

Six months prior to the build date on your car gives you a good amount of room to search for and locate parts you need to finish a restoration with parts it could have come with. I have a detailed list of everything I could find date codes for when I rebuilt my '68 back in 2007. If you send me an email at rkcorrigan51@gmail.com, I'll send you that list for comparison.

Randy C.

matt506

Thanks Dr and Randy,
email sent Randy. Build date of my car is 04D of 68. Trying to collect parts as I go before I do a frame off resto in a few years.