While working on a 1925 steel door fordor I found this stamp in the left main sill, near where the driver's left foot would be placed. It clearly reads "IP1924". Is it the manufacturer's year of origin or what? Who is "IP"?
At first glance, I thought it read "HP" with the H connected to the P.
Impounded Police 1924
Interesting Jack!
That made me take a look at my '25 Fordor and, sure enough, here's the number......
It's probably HP - Highland Park.
Dave S.
Should have also noted this is probably a body serial number. Ford started adding them sometime in 1925. There is usually a plant indication, a number and sometimes a space and another single digit.
Dave S.
When you posted "Maker's Mark" you got my attention.
When you posted "Maker's Mark" you got my attention.
Sorry for the double post. I don't know how that happened.
Gary
Gary, might have had something to do with the Maker's Mark...
I was able to take a closer look at the "makers mark", with a magnifying glass and the first letter is not an "I" it is part of an H. The separation in the wood goes through the middle of the H and nearly obliterate the center of the letter. Yes, I accept that the body was probably made at the Highland Park plant. What I thought was a year of manufacture, 1924, is probably the serial number of the body. The car is titled 1925, so year of manufacture could have possibly been 1924. I think I was wrong. I am amazed that it is an early serial number. The body does have a cowl vent. This body must be early in the production of cowl vented bodies.
I have found no other numbers in the woodwork.
Cheers, and on the rocks!!!
My '27 Fordor has an HP followed by a number that I feel is the body number.
There was a thread about this some time back and Hap was collecting the information.
Keith
I am sure that the H running into the P signified Highland Park but just at this moment can not put my fingers on the info.
My main purpose of posting is to bump this back up to the top in the hope that HaP will enlighten us.
All -- thanks for bumping it up. Yes, I am collecting this sort of information. Yes, the HP most likely stands for Highland Park.
Still to be confirmed -- is it an early assembly plant number indicating that the Fordor body was mated to the chassis at Highland Park or is it an indication of where the body was made -- i.e. Highland Park but that the body could have been shipped to another assembly plant to be placed onto a chassis? Or did it mean something else? I am hoping that as we gather additional information we will be able to tell if the "blue puzzle piece" is part of the sky or part of the water. For sure we know it is blue. In this case we are fairly sure the HP is for Highland Park. But to designate where the body was made or to designate where the body was assembled to the chassis is still to be figured out. (Or if someone out there knows -- please let us know!).
Again thank you all for your support.
Respectfully submitted,
Hap l9l5 cut off
I'm pretty sure all of the bodies (except the Coupe) were being built by Ford at this time. For the open cars, Ford was putting together sub-assemblies at Highland Park (if I remember correctly) which consisted of the sides of the body fully assembled with the wood and doors installed. These were packed in RR cars and shipped to the branch plants with all the rest of the parts to assemble the body. The branch plants would assemble the body paint and upholster it, then install it on the chassis.
I'm not sure exactly how the closed cars were handled. Could have been done the same way or they could have shipped all the pieces and had the entire assembly done at the branch plant.
I read someplace that all of the Fordor bodies were built at Highland Park. Don't know if this is actually true. So far, all the Fordor body numbers I've seen have been HP numbers.
Dave S.