Ford part number identification guide

Article By: Skip Porterfield

Old Henry did a lot of curious things when he started making his Ford cars and trucks, but he really did make things easy for parts people. It looks confusing, but it really is simple once you get the hang of it. This is a general guide for the number sequencing that Ford uses to identify its parts.

There are 3 groups of numbers and letters.

As we all know, the first combination of letter and number lets you know what year. For example: B=1950's, C-1960's, D=1970's and E=1980's parts, etc. The number following the first letter indicates which year of the decade the part was produced. Thus, B8 would be a 1958, C6 would be 1966, etc.

The second letter in the sequence (following the year indicator) tells what vehicle the part was originally designed for where:

A = Full sized Ford cars
F = Pinto, Maverick, Falcon
L= Lincoln Mark IV
M = Mercury
O = Fairlane
R = Capri
S = Thunderbird
T = Truck
V = Lincoln
Z = Mustang

The next letter indicates where the part was warehoused unless it has an X. The X indicates a Ford Muscle Part. For example, a C8-AE-H cylinder head is as follows: C8 = '68, A = big Ford, E = from Mahwah, NJ., and H = 8th revision of the cylinder head design.

C6TE would be a part designed specifically for a truck.

The warehouse (or build locations for vehicles) locations for parts are as follows:

A = Atlanta, Ga.
C = Ontario, Canada
D = Dallas, TX
E = Mahwah, NJ
G = Chicago, IL
H = Lorain, OH
J = Los Angeles, CA
K = Kansas City, MO
L = Michigan Truck
N = Norfolk, VA
P= Twin Cities, MN
R = San Jose, CA
S = Allen Park, MI
U = Louisville, KY
V = Kentucky Truck
Z = St. Louis, MO.

X = Ford Muscle Parts Program

The series of 4 numbers indicates what the part actually is: For example, the number 6250 indicates a camshaft. Not all casting numbers will include this individual part number.

The last letter indicates which revision of the part it is (how many times it was revised)
A = original part
B = first revision

C = second revision

etc.

Thus, a part number #C8AX-6250-C, indicates a 1968 (C8), big Ford (A), X (Ford

Muscle Part), 6250 (camshaft), C (the third engineering/production revision of this cam grind).

Now, with this handy little guide, you too can be an expert reading Ford Part numbers.

SKIP PORTERFIELD

Slick 60’s

skip427@houston.rr.com

Copyright protected 2003