Oddities

At this point, the car is about done, and I thought it was about time to summarize the characteristics of this car that are contrary to conventional beliefs. There are quite a few.

Radiator

The radiator is what most knowledgeable Mustang collectors would consider an S2 “San Jose” radiator. True that the radiator is marked W Mo, for Modine radiator western division.  But I found an S2 radiator on an unrestored one owner June 9 K code coupe from Dearborn.  I spoke to the owner at length about the car and he stated that it was the original radiator.  Modine had a long standing relationship as a radiator supplier to Ford.  All radiators documented were dated May, or June 64.  These radiators are unique in that they have an upper baffle and higher density of cooling fins than standard cooling radiators.  Since Ford had an earlier opening planned for the San Jose/Milpitas plant, and K code production that was to start there - in order to deliver K codes by June 1st as planned.  The May/June production dates for the the hipo “S” radiators falls right in line with that.  But SJ didn’t start until mid July.  So When K code production started in late June in Dearborn, many of the S2 radiators we’re sent there instead.

Automatic Choke Carburetor 

This perplexing substitution for the planned manual choke C4OF-AL was caused by a need to get K codes in front of customers by July 4th weekend. The production delays had K code production start behind by about three weeks according to the Ford Archives in Dearborn.  What at first seemed strange is that the manual choke exhaust manifolds(without choke stove to heat the carburetor choke mechanism when the engine was warm) were still used with the automatic choke carb.  The evidence shows that there was a shortage of the manual choke carburetors but ample supplies of automatic choke C3OF-AJ carburetors.  With the heater hose clamped to the side of the C3OF AJ choke housing, the choke would work at least well enough to get through the July 4th sales push, where these auto choke K codes would serve to entice prospective buyers to order a new K code Mustang.  These cars were dressed to impress, some with Cobra dress-up kits for some added bling on an already enticing high performance package.  Though generally allocated to higher volume dealerships in the DSO, they were shared among dealers in the DSO, suing the sales push. After the sales push these cars were to be retrofitted with the manual choke C4OF-AL carburetor, when they became available, before being sold.  With this car, the car was allocated to Courtesy Motors in Charlotte, NC, but the sale was facilitated by Mooresville Motors in Mooresville, NC.  As a result, the communication that a retrofit manual choke carburetor was to be installed went to Courtesy instead of Mooresville, the communication between dealerships didn’t happen, and as a result the retrofit was never done.  Bill, the original owner, told me that the automatic choke worked great and that he never had any problems with up until he traded the K code in for a 1969 Shelby GT 350.

Gray Grill

Evidently during June 1964 Mustang was getting a gray rather than gunmetal blue grill that was more common in later production.  The color was matched from the original grill.

Air Cleaner

The air cleaner assembly is also unique to very early K codes.  It is essentially the same as the ‘64 Fairlane except that the base was painted a darker bronze gold than the later metallic gold.  It has a single choke air pick off blocked by a rubber plug and chrome double hump top without any provision for a close ventilation tube from the oil breather.  It’s been observed that many of these air cleaner trays had black paint under the bronze gold - implying that these were leftover and repainted for the early hipo Mustangs.

Rear Brake Line Bracket and Exhaust Hanger Attachments 

This is the only K code, even among very early ones, that the bracket which supports the rear axle brake hose connection to the solid line to the body, is attached with two bolts rather spot welded.  It also uses 4 Ford RBC bolts rather than the C1VV plate used on all other K codes, to attach the dual exhaust hangers to the rear of the floor pans.    This supports other evidence that the car may have been a pilot build other than on the main assembly line.  Early cars had numerous markings on the radiator support that differed from later K codes indicting that the cars had special procedures that were different from non-K codes. All original paint and markings were preserved on the radiator support of this car.

Oil Filter

I mention the NOS Rotunda oil filter because we would normally expect a factory black oil filter.  Because the car had toured numerous dealerships and test drives by prospective buyers, the car was given a fresh oil change and prep before delivery to Bill the original owner.