1955 thunderbird tracing history

[tomtalker]

I know this was built April 25th 1955 and was manufactured in Dearborn mi and was sent to Salt Lake City and was the 86th one sent there. I know it was registered in the international thunderbird club I’m hoping some members might know it’s history and can fill me in. My dad had it for 10 years from 2010- 2021. He bought it in hermiston Oregon from a dealership.

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[cokefirst]

I know this was built April 25th 1955 and was manufactured in Dearborn mi and was sent to Salt Lake City and was the 86th one sent there. I know it was registered in the international thunderbird club I’m hoping some members might know it’s history and can fill me in. My dad had it for 10 years from 2010- 2021. He bought it in hermiston Oregon from a dealership.
View attachment 15665

Finding the lineage of your car will be close to impossible unless someone saved the paperwork from the purchase new through your acquisition. I purchased my first 1955 Thunderbird in 1969 and could only get back to where the previous owner purchased the car from a used car dealer about 6 years prior.

Here is a little more information on your decoding. The assembly date you quote is only a scheduled production date. Depending on manufacturing circumstances, the car may have been produced before or after that date. Cars that were ordered by a dealer were assigned the district code, which in your case was Salt Lake City It simply designates that the vehicle was sent to a dealer in that sales district's area. The production number is not the number of the vehicles sent to the sales district, but rather the scheduled production number of the vehicle on the date of production Your vehicle was scheduled to be the 86th car produced on that day.

Good luck in quest for the information

 

[doug7740]

First let’s start off by decoding your VIN:

P5FH193091

40A T C 25DSC86​

P = Engine Code - 292 Cubic Inch Displacement
5 = Model Year - 1955
F = Assembly Plant - Dearborn
H = Body Style - Thunderbird
193091 = Consecutive Unit Number of All Ford Cars Assembled

40A = Body Type (All 1955 & 1956 Ford Cars Were Coded 40A)
T = Body Color - Thunderbird Blue (If A Second Letter Shows, It Indicates A Different Color for the Hardtop)
C = Trim Color - Turquoise/White
25 = Day of the Month
D = Month - April
SC = Sales Area District – Salt Lake City
86 = The 86th Thunderbird Shipped to the Salt Lake City District for the 1955 Model Year

There seems to be a lot of confusion about the data plate production code. The production code is the number of vehicles sent to the sales district.

Attached is an article by Dave Tulowitzky that explains the data plate production code.

doug7740
1955 Thunderbird Blue

 

[tomtalker]

I would love that it’s hard to prove 31k original miles without it. But everything appears to be correct to say that it is.