South of the Border Mustang Registry

FINDINGS

Mexico

International production in Mexico was limited to Coupes until 1973, when the first sportsroof Mach 1's were built. (Prior to this, Mexican law allowed no other body style.)

The earliest Mexican units, built from late 1964 through the spring or early summer of 1965, were shipped from Dearborn as "knock down" units with "5MEX07C1xxxxx" VIN's -- a format virtually identical to the U.S. VIN's, but with "MEX" replacing the "F" plant code. These were then completed in Mexico ("Armado en Mexico", according to the door data plate).

Sometime around June 1965, the "La Villa" plant in Mexico City began producing Mustangs on a more independent basis -- these carried a VIN beginning with "AF", followed by the "07" body code (coupe). Though other data plate codes largely seem to follow the U.S. codes for each model year, Mexico continued using "07" as the VIN body code through at least 1969.

Published figures exist only for Shelby de Mexico production:

Shelby de Mexico Production
Year	Engine	MM Nov 1987 ^{(See Note 1)}	MM Jan 1990	MF Aug 1990
1967	289	50	169	169
1968	289	100+	203	203
1969	302	250	306	^{(Note 2)} 306
1970	351	100		^{(Note 3)} 1
1971 ^{(See Note 4)}	351W			~200
Notes: ¹ From an interview with Eduardo Velazquez conducted by Stacy Pendergrass. These numbers are probably suspect. ² Also two Shelby de Mexico-built racers, at least one of which used an experimental 377ci 450hp engine provided by Carroll Shelby ³ Only 1970 Shelby de Mexico built was a racer ⁴ Shelby de Mexico GT-351's

Netherlands

From September 1965 through the end of the 1967 model year, Mustangs were built at the Ford plant in Amsterdam for the European market, with deliveries to (at least) the Netherlands, Belgium, and in 1967, France.

As in Mexico, the plant assembled only coupes -- production of the lone registered convertible seems to have been "outsourced" to Metuchen after assignment of the Ford International VIN, the car bearing a buck tag stamped with both U.S. and International VINs, with the line for body type, color and trim deleted.

Above: Ford Factory, Hemweg 201, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 1966
Below: Aerial View, circa 1960
(Source: www.dutchmustangs.nl)

Arjan Nugteren of www.dutchmustang.nl has done extensive research into Ford and Mustang production in Holland.
With the cooperation of Ford NL, he has discovered and preserved remarkable photos, memos, press releases and even the original floor plans for the Mustang assembly line at the Ford's Amsterdam plant. This ever-growing collection of historical photos, documents and information (much of it translated into English) can be seen on Arjan's website, under the "Archive" and "Ford NL" tabs.

Venezuela

In October 1966, the Venezuelan Ford plant in Valencia (about 100 miles west-southwest of Caracas) began producing Mustangs, building 231 or 232 (Ford's numbers differ) through the end of December. These vehicles carried VIN's beginning with "AJ", and a body code of "01". Venezuelan production continued through at least 1973.

The Valencia Mustang Club has transcribed Ford Venezuela's official History of Mustang Production in Venezuela.

(English translation courtesy of Babelfish -- the original spanish language page can be found here.

Peru

Also in 1967, Ford's plant in Lima, Peru began Mustang assembly. These cars featured VIN's beginning with "7-AT07G...", using both the U.S. style leading digit and the Ford international letter ("G") to indicate the model year, along with the 1965-66 holdover "07" body serial code. The cars themselves may also have included some 1966 parts.

Mustangs Down Under

More than 200 1965-66 U.S-built Mustangs were converted to Australian specs at a Ford of Australia subcontractor in Homebush (about 10 miles west of Sydney), according to "Aussie Bob" and a Ford Historian in Melbourne, and Colin Falso, owner of one of the 1966 models.

These cars were apparently shipped from one of the U.S. plants, either as pre-assembled "bare bones" vehicles or as "knock-down" units. Ford of Australia then converted them to right-hand drive to meet Australian legal requirements, using a fair number of parts from the existing Australian Falcon and Fairlane assembly lines. A plate was installed on the right (now the driver's side) door sill declaring the vehicles "Made by Ford Australia," and another "Australian Compliance Plate" was affixed to the firewall.

Though the cars had already been counted in U.S. production totals, following their extensive conversion work, Ford considered them "newly assembled," and included them in their annual report of international production figures. Ford of Australia lost most of their early production data when converting over to modern computer systems, but the monthly production totals survived:

1965	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct						Total
1965	17	16	14	1						48
1966	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Total
1966	4	22	34	26	20	18	17	19	1	161

Australian Owner Colin Falso of the Victoria Chapter of the Mustang Owner's Club of Australia has provided the following photos, and a copy of the letter he sent to Mustang Monthly's Jerry Heasley, in response to an August 1999 column regarding the Australian Mustangs: (All courtesy Colin Falso, 2001 except *)

6T07C175320	(Built 20 December 1965 for export to Ford of Australia and conversion to "AA75Y75320")
Modified Firewall	(During Restoration)
Engine Compartment	(Restored)
Ford of Australia VIN tag
Ford of Australia VIN tag	(Detail)
Australian Mustang*
Original Invoice	(Trading in a Falcon for a 1966 Mustang from "J.R. Wotherspoon & Co.: Departmental Stores, General Merchants, Licensed Grocers, Insurances" -- and Mustang Sales* ?!?)*
Original Registration Certificate
Dealer Service Receipt	(Showing a sale date of 30 September 1965)

Further information regarding these cars -- or on surviving examples -- would be greatly appreciated.

Production Figures

Thanks to Kevin Marti of Marti Auto Works, we now have Mustang production totals for calendar year 1966:

1966
	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Total
Mexico	353	261	109	72	109	201	369	526	363	119	54	217	2753
Venezuela										27	67	137	231
Peru											6	28	34
Netherlands	40	36	53	48	41	6	3	8	4	6	112	40	397
Australia	4	22	34	26	20	18	17	19	1				161
Total Foreign Mustang Production for CY 1966:													3576