Casting Dates and what they mean
These casting codes are cast from the iron moulds on the day they are manufactured for all major components eg. Manifolds, engine block, heads, gearbox, diff, etc.
The codes can be seen by looking for the 2 slot head screw casts with the code in between.
The first code is the decade year, Eg.
7 = 1967
8 = 1968
9 = 1969
0 = 1970
1 = 1971
2 = 1972
3 = 1973 etc
The second code is a letter representing the month excluding “I” so
A = Jan
B = Feb
C = Mar
D = Apr
E = May
F = Jun
G = Jul
H = Aug
J = Sep
K = Oct
L = Nov
M = Dec
The last 1 or 2 codes is the day of the month.
Eg.1 .. 31
eg. 9M13 = 13th November 1969 on a December 1970 XY
4V or NOT a 4V?
Quite a bit of discussion and research has gone into the 4V Cleveland engine issue. The main issue is that Ford Australia called all it’s GT Cleveland engines 4V’s to represent the 4 venturi carburettor fitted as standard to XW-XB GT’s.
The imported US Cleveland’s were all fitted to GT’s with the large port 4V heads whereas the Australian built Cleveland’s were all built with small port heads known as 2V’s but retained the 4V designation due to the Australian 4 venturi manifold with small port inlets.
To identify the imported engine in the 1970-1972 cars is that they have a D block casting on the top passenger side of the block and a coil tag identifier & tappet cover sticker of CK608 for Manuals and CK609 for Automatics. The heads have a 4 stamped in the top corner. In late 72 and 1973 cars they have a square block casting on the top passenger side of the block and a coil tag identifier of CK617 Manual only. The heads have a 4. (dot) stamped in the top corner.
Australian engines were fitted to automatics from mid 72 and manual GT’s from late December 1973. These engines are identified by the square block casting mark and small port heads with no coil tags.
Ford Australia continued to import the large port 4V heads and many of these made there way onto the Australian engines for racing, press cars, dealer fitment, spare parts counter sales etc.
Australian engines carry the GF (Geelong Foundry) casting mark beside the oil pressure sender but the CF (Cleveland Foundry) casting mark is also found on later engine blocks.
The CK617 imported large port square block engine was limited to the XA Manual GT’s and a small number of 1973 XB Manuals (72 coupes and 139 sedans).
Dealer, Factory, aftermarket options
Excerpt from “From the Library” by Jim Donovan as published in FGTOC Queensland newsletter May 2002.
Over the last month I have had more enquiries than I thought possible, most of them were on options for a particular car, and how to know if they were dealer, factory or aftermarket. This is a really hard question – except for the factory options of course. Ford Australia has a record of what factory options were fitted to your vehicle. Unfortunately you have to work at deciphering the information they give you, nine times out of ten the code will be correct but the description they give you does not match, so you are better off just getting the option codes and looking them up yourself.
As for dealer fitted options, these are difficult; you have a few ways to investigate this. Not many people have an original sales invoice, so there’s the first option gone! Do you know if the dealer still exists? If they do, you could call them and ask really nice, they may have records from that time. I Believe – some do! But remember these people are in the business of making money selling cars, parts, service – the documentation that Ford Dealers, and past owners have is their private property they don’t have to help you out. We’ve found if they can, they will. The only other way to work out possible dealer fitted options is how they are fitted. If your car has under dash aircon, but you suspect it was a dealer fitted option – check the glass in your windows, a lot of XA and XB’s had factory fitted tinted glass but no aircon, – why? The dealer could sell the under dash unit cheaper and with more profit than the Ford factory option, so they would get the aircon Antisun glass fitted from the factory as it was a tickable option!
Dealer fitted cloth inserts were another common dealer fitted option. If a car was fitted with cloth inserts in the seats your trim code will end in 2 i.e. for black with inserts B2. However if it was dealer fitted, you may want to keep them (even if they are crazy green stripes, or orange checks), a lot of cars (mainly XA’s and XB’s) were fitted with dealer cloth inserts. The cars were bright, loud, noisy, but the interiors were usually black, brown, or white. This was the 70’s, people wanted bright colours on their cars and the interiors, so the dealers would have cloth inserts fitted before sale. Commonly these dealer inserts are straight over the original vinyl, so if you have cloth with no trim code, check it out, it could be dealer fitted. Every state had its wild car builders. QLD had Metropolitan Ford (now Metro), and they were dealers for McLeod Ford Horn cars and parts, these two dealers are particularly noted for dealer cloth inserts…………….
EB and EL GT Model (option) Code
The model codes for the EB and EL GTs, a little surprising, this may not be news to some of you, the EB GT has a model code of 18238 which is the same as an EB Fairmont Ghia, however they have an option code of 2L which is only available on a GT (it is in fact the option code for GT). The EL was a different story and perhaps was an early indication of Fords Commitment to developing further GT Falcons as the EL saw the release of a unique GT model Code again, it was 18722. So keep them handy for the future.
Model Codes
Model code, this is the actual code designation for every vehicle – it tells you exactly what the car is: So here’s one for you – 18318. Now anyone can tell you that this is the model designation for an XB GT 2 door Hardtop, but what does it actually mean?
The first two numbers, 18 signify the product line, you’ll find 18 on any Falcon based passenger vehicle – 4 door and 2 door.
Commercial based Falcons (utes and vans) are from the product line 45.
The third number, 3 is the model year, i.e. XB Falcons started in 1973, and an XA has 2 for 1972. There are of course changes to the rule – XY’s have two model years 1970 and 1971 – the 1971 was a redesign so received a new model year number.
The fourth number, in this case a 1, the body style.
– A 2 door Hardtop as a body style number of 1,
– A four door sedan – 3,
– A 4 door Wagon – 6,
– A Utility – 7, and
– A Panel Van 8.
The fifth and last number, an 8 in this case, is the serious number and for Falcon based vehicles these read like this:
1 – Falcon std,
3 – Falcon 500,
5 – Futura,
7 – Fairmont,
8 GT,
9 – GTHO (XW only).
So our 18318 breaks down as follows:
Falcon based vehicle – 18
Model year of 1973 – 3
Body style of 2 door Hardtop – 1
Series of GT – 8
Keep these in mind and you can decode any model of a Falcon based vehicle.