I may get no responses here, but I'd like to toss a jump ball, at least for conversation!
I have this wild Don Quixote thing going for transitional periods on the American builts and what might or might not be pure, etc. OK, my problem, not the point.
I'm fairly convinced that in many cases at Ford, especially dropped forged ones and stamped ones the complete phase in took much much longer than we have previously ever thought.
It came to light on me like a light bulb one day when my own foundry shifted to metal forms for phenolic sand vacuum forming of cope and drag so that we could offer what looks like one piece rear 'pumpkins' as cast but look like investment castings right from the line. Even the stupidest little revision requires the forming dies to be resunk! Old wood days, a chisel and a hammer or some spotting plaster took but seconds to make a 'fix', sending out these new ones to get resunk drives me nuts!
Anyway, we drop forge too with 20 tonners and I went out and ask how long we get out of a die for say a gear blank and the answer was --almost forever!
2+2 = 4
If drop forge dies last a good long time, and Ford had large quantities of Forging dies for the same items in order to make parallel lines for quantity...were I to be the die department head I'd tell design engineering to go suck a lemon until I actually needed a die re-sunk!
Now opens the door for mixed production until all dies have made the rounds...
Could the Canadians have waited that long to have their dies for the backing plates actually resunk? I don't have a clue...but thought I'd offer it up as a jump ball for those that might have other thoughts and experience.
Canadian production was on average 50,000 per year from 1913 to 1927 while US production was a million per year on average during the same period, so yes, the canadians weren't forced to resunk their tooling from wear as often as the Dearborn guys.
Thanks Roger,
Now the next conundrum...lol....thats why this stuff never stops. Should Ford Canada have had the same presses, perhaps a design change at Highland that was important enough to design engineers saw the dies for the old design not being resunk, but barged over the river with a load of 'something' with new dies used at Highland complete in which case for the backing plates Canada had a lifetime supply?
American companies would never do that to foreign subsidiaries would they? (tongue in cheek)
Actually a combination of both ways would also be possible. New die forms ordered up in part, old dies cycled around over time, left over to Windsor.
As far as my near obsession, I'm not trying to be cranky...in my years with these things I've seen guys pull off transition parts and go to conventional wisdom replacements. Their cars, their choice but when something new surfaces that supports a longer transition period, I go 'awwwww' to those who felt conventional wisdom was more important than as found.
Thats probaly why I own a 'pure' and do whatever needed to keep it that way, then an almost 'pure' because it is a transition with something perceived to be just a wee too early but it also had/has brothers and sisters built in the same month and I'll never change it-thats what 'do not judge' signs are for, a beater of right year everything weak, and with the last buy a bitsey that is presently the most fun, whatever I have when I want 'better' bolts right up....lol My mood probaly changes on what I'm driving.
Personally, I think a lot of people get a little too silly with this stuff. (I am not criticizing you!)
No one uses paint that is chemically the same as original nor do they apply it in the same way. Tires are not made the same way with original type materials. And a thread the other day started out all about what to use to replace the original "leatherette" door panels because nothing like them is made today. I could go on. Does it really matter if a 1918 has a low or high oil-fill hole in the rear axle?
On the other hand, I do much prefer cars that at least appear to be like they were in their nearly new days. I want my cars to look like they were yanked from an original photograph.
But that is me.
Drive carefully, and enjoy, W2