South of the Border Mustang Registry

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DOOR TAG DECODING

Not only are the "South of the Border" door tags formatted differently from those on U.S. Mustangs, the style and data also differed between each country.

Mexico (Early)

The earliest Mexican cars (built approximately January - June 1965) were almost wholly assembled in the U.S., most likely at Dearborn.   As such, they received modified U.S.-style VIN's and only the bare essentials on their data plates:


Rene Conde's 1965 Coupe, built around 10 February 1965,
is the earliest Mexican Mustang in the registry database.
 TIPO (Body Type) = "65A" (Just your average Coupe.)
NUMERO DE SERIE = VIN
"5" = 1965
"MEX" = Mexican Export Model
"07" = Coupe (The only body style allowed in Mexico until 1973)
"C" - 289-2V (Though the cars were almost certainly delivered to the customer with a Mexican-built 289-4V.)
The final six digits, as with U.S. domestic units, are the Consecutive Unit Number -- a one-up serial (starting at 100001) in this case apparently covering all U.S.-built knock-downs shipped to Mexico for final assembly, regardless of model.

Mexico (After June 1965)



Gabor Kiss' 1968 Mexican-Built Deluxe Interior Coupe
now resides in Miskolc, Hungary.
 VOLANTE (Wheel) = "IZQ" (short for "Izqueirdo -- "Left", meaning LH drive) used in 1965, later years simply used "L"
MOTOR = The only engine offered until 1969(?) was "289-4V" (spelled out for 1965, two letter code "AC" used for later years), "AO" = Boss 302(?) for 1969
TRANS = "1" = 3-Spd Manual, "4" = C-4 Auto (Probably same as U.S. codes)
EJE (Axle) = "1" = 3.00:1 Open (Probably same as U.S. codes)
VESTIDURA (Interior) = "22" = Blue (1965), Later Years "VG" (Black (or Red?) Standard Vinyl), "VB" (Blue Deluxe Vinyl), "VWZ" (Black Knitted Vinyl), "VC" & "VM" (Unk) have been seen

Note that the model year, not well-defined by the VIN, is indicated in the lower right-hand corner of the door tag as "MOD-YY"

Venezuela



Ricardo Gamero of Caracas owns this beautiful 1968 Venezuelan Mustang
COLOR
MOTOR
TRANS
EJE
TAP. ("TAPICERIA" -- Interior)
REF. (Apparently always left blank)
SERV. ("SERVICIO" -- Service) (Apparently always left blank)

U.S. codes were used for all fields on Venezuelan door tags except the "Tapiciera" (Interior Trim), which included a "T" suffix not found on American models (and whose meaning is not yet known.)

Netherlands



Erik Brom of Amsterdam owns this 1966 Mustang, assembled at the nearby Ford plant in November 1965.
 Use of the U.S. door tag and the "Made in U.S.A." statement suggests that like the early "5MEX" Mexican cars, these may have been shipped to the Netherlands as either "knock downs" or unserialized bodies, and completed there for compliance with the regulations of the destination country.

Body, Axle and Transmission codes appear to match those used in the U.S.

Color and Trim codes, however, seem to have used European codes. The "F03" color code seen here may indicate the 3rd ("03") color option of the 1966 ("F") model year. All 1967 color codes seen so far have been preceded by "64" or "66".

Spaces for the date and DSO were left blank.

Contact the South of the Border Mustang Registry at: mexmust@hammar.dyndns.org