Introduction

Introduction
I started this blog to record and share information about this very rare 64 1/2 K code convertible.  The car is going through a minimal restoration, after more than 5 years of research.  The goal is to preserve the originality of the car to end up with as close to what the original owner saw and experienced when he first drove the car and fell in love with it as possible.

The car is in remarkably good condition and retains all of its original sheet metal except for the lower front valence (replaced by the owner who acquired the car in 1973, Jay).  All of the stamped production date codes from the original panels have been photographed and recorded.  I have been able to recover the original vessel identification number (VIN) assignment document and the original bill of sale for the car.  Putting the items together, the VIN was assigned by Ford Accounting in Dearborn on May 29th, 1964, car was built on or shortly after June 20th, 1964, and delivered to Charlotte, NC before July 8th, 1964 when the original owner (Bill) purchased the car.

The planned build date shown on the original data plate is June 9th, 1964.  I did extensive research on this car and a number of other 64 1/2 K codes with planned build dates of June 9th or sooner in an effort to understand why this car was built so much later than the planned date.  Interestingly, every other car I researched had body panels with stamped manufacturing dates after June 23rd, again well after their planned build dates.

I was also able to document the ownership history of the car, with interviews and signed affidavits from several of the owners that I was able to locate.  Some of the most intriguing information came from the first two owners.  The first owner, Bill, was thrilled to hear from me when I first spoke to him back in 2012 and he volunteered a wealth of information about how he acquired the the car and how it was equipped.

The most surprising information was that this car had an automatic choke when new (a fact that was later confirmed by the second owner, Bobby, when I first spoke to him in 2014).  My first contact was with Bobby's brother who remembered the car and told me that Bobby had replaced the carburetor with  Holley, and this was later confirmed by Bobby in a subsequent phone call.  I have puzzled over this for 5 years now, and through some research I think that I have figured out why this car and several others had automatic chokes. 

I'll be presenting more about the cars history along with photos of the restoration in later posts.