1972-73 owners-mind your P's and Q's

[Viperwolf1]

so someone added more letters to alpabet later;D intersting thread, posted to subscribe

The 76s ended with D in the 6th character. Ford couldn't use E after that because there would be no way to tell a 77 from a 69. So they went to a letter that was previously taboo, the O. They finished the year with X, Y and Z.

 

[Viperwolf1]

Hey Viper, I had a '72 with U15GLP89120 .... 3speed column, T Shift with dash bar lights.

Blue71

That's one of the orphans. Did it have the fuel return line? Do you know the build date? Looks like Oct 72.

 

[Blue71]

That's one of the orphans. Did it have the fuel return line? Do you know the build date? Looks like Oct 72.

Didn't have the fuel return line on this one. Trying to locate the guy I sold it to to get the build date off of the door. It had the door tag, but I can't make out the date in my pics.

Andy
Blue71

 

[FRANKO289]

Mine is N801, not sure what the build date was but it was titled 8/31/72

it all depends what the other 2 numbers are ... if its 80150 and lower
it was made wednesday march 1st 1972 .... 80150 and up, thursday march 2nd 1972 !!

 

[stupidboy]

it all depends what the other 2 numbers are ... if its 80150 and lower
it was made wednesday march 1st 1972 .... 80150 and up, thursday march 2nd 1972 !!

80148 hmmmm looks like wednesday march first, thanks franko!!:-*

 

[Viperwolf1]

Here's the running tally. I'd like to see if there are any Oct 72 Qs.

 

[mfrank]

When I bought my first Bronco in 93, I remember being told to be careful about 73s because there was a flood at one of the plants and they experienced a lot of problems from rust to other issues. I have not confirmed this but was told the same story twice, so I do not know if it was hear say or some event took place that may have delayed the vins due to an event at one of the plants.

 

[broncoitis]

This is all Chinese to me right now! I have a 70 so I guess mine isn't a problem year for Viper! I wonder what my VIN indicates about my truck??? ?:?

 

[behemoth]

mine was a t case 72 with power steering.

 

[DirtDonk]

I wish my buddies had kept more detailed info about their first rigs. All three had '72's, all three were T-shift, manual trans, manual steering and w/o dash bars. Two were Explorers, all three were Sports (I'm looking at Rubicon photos of them from '76 as I type) and though they were obviously not late builds, I have no idea what month any of them were built in.

Paul

 

[behemoth]

My earlier build 72 06/72 p37944 t shift no dash bars,has canister.

My 09/72 p88634 t shift,power steering dash bars,has expansion tank, canister, no fuel return. Was a Cali truck I have the window sticker.

 

[Viperwolf1]

Here's the latest.

 

[Doyle]

Viper, update on R600xx, ps, manual, dashlights, no return.

 

[DirtDonk]

Adding another one, with another coming tomorrow.
Registered '73 with a moderately early/mid build date of 3/73 but already into the R's. VIN R40047
Light bars, auto, power steering, J-shift case, no-return ports on switch (assumed to be original, but no way to tell for sure).

This one's a real interesting one too. It was actually built and 2-tone painted originally to be a Stroppe Baja, but for whatever reason it never made the delivery and was sold through normal channels at a normal dealership. But it had the Poppy Red and Wimbledon White paint! I thought they were painted outside of Ford, but evidently that's was not necessarily the case.
He's doing a frame-off resto-mod and wanted to change the color. Luckily he let us talk him into keeping it original, color-wise, in most areas.

Paul

 

[Viperwolf1]

Thanks Paul.

 

[DirtDonk]

Hey Phil. Sorry to muddy up your database even further, but is there any question about which trucks had the sensor plate thingy for the "Ambient Sensor" (or was that "Switch"?) there in the door jamb?
I'm guessing you would have asked if you were curious, but wasn't that another one of those "some '72's and '73's had it" kind of things?

Paul

 

[BajaBronco]

Two more
P89823 10/72 Ambient sensor, 3 on tree, PS, lightbars, regular 3 port fuel valve REd Ranger
Q47765 10/72 NO sensor, AT, PS, Lightbars, Fuel return valves, Green Sport

 

[DirtDonk]

Good ones Andrew!
The October "Q" puts it right in the thick of things.
Are they both registered as '73's then? Or are any of them still '72's?

Paul

 

[BajaBronco]

Hmmm...I think the P was a 72, tho I considered it a 73 being that it was a PS rig and a Ranger. But regardless of it's past it is now a 72 for sure.

The Q was titled as a 73. It's fully restored and in Japan....but I know it very well (body off resto).

 

[Viperwolf1]

Hey Phil. Sorry to muddy up your database even further, but is there any question about which trucks had the sensor plate thingy for the "Ambient Sensor" (or was that "Switch"?) there in the door jamb?
I'm guessing you would have asked if you were curious, but wasn't that another one of those "some '72's and '73's had it" kind of things?

Paul

Good call on the temp sensor. It adds another dimension that might help us figure out what happened. It should have been a '72 only thing. Andrew's data comes in at just the right time too. I think it supports the theory that the late P's were really produced at the end of '72 or beginning of '73 and held back for some reason. I think that reason could still be the fuel return line and it looks like it may have been eliminated before they got all the P's fitted with it.