I recently got my Marti Report on my 68 Cougar. The actual build date was Dec 20, 1967. The release date wasn’t until May 16, 1968. It was sold on July 23, 1968. Can anyone tell me where the car was for those 5 missing months between December and May?
A parking lot, a railyard, an auto carrier. But I don’t think release date means what you are thinking. It’s not the actual date that the car left the factory, it was the date that it was cleared to be sold.
I’ve seen other reports where cars were released within days after thier build date. I was wandering if it could have been a factory demo or sitting somewhere for five months, which doesn’t sound quite right. This car was built a month after the big UMW strike which shut down Ford production for two months, so you would think they would have been sending the cars out to the dealers as soon as they could. I was hoping someone would have an idea.
Sorry, I meant UAW.
There could have been a defect that needed fixing before it went out.
“release” on the Marti report means “gate release”, either driven out, or left by train, or truck transport. The intervening months between the build date and the release date means that the car sat at the factory for some reasons, most likely a delay in obtaining some components or parts, or a strike, etc.
If that’s the case Jim why does the Marti for the GT-E show a release date of 5/17/68 and a sold date of 3/25/68? If you remember the history of this car it was purchased directly off the floor of the Syracuse Auto Show. Obviously it must have “left the gate” long before 5/17 to be sold on 3/25. For reference the build date was 8/21/67.
During the strike of '67 the UAW sabotaged production by scrambling the sequencing of parts headed for the line. This caused a few Frankenstein messes. These cars were held for rework. When the strike ended it was easier to move partially assembled cars off the line, clear the parts cues and start fresh. The cars needing rework were put in an impound yard and slowly over time they were built out and shipped to dealers.