How common and interchangeable are Ford parts?

How do I take Ford Parts Numbers and determine what cars and models they go to?

• I have "inherited" approximately 500 new Ford Parts in boxes. They are all new with Parts Numbers. How can I find out what cars and models they go to, etc.?

• Answer:

  That's probably a particularly valuable lot. NOS(new old stock) parts are very rare and usually valuable. Some very rare ones can be worth well over $1000 while other more common ones may be just $5. Ford used a common numbering system that changed very little for about 50 years from the 50's to the 90's. The prefix will give you the model and year. Example top line: C7OZ-7A247-C bottom line: SW-595 The prefix of C7OZ is broken down as follows: C, which is the first digit, refers to the decade of original part manufacture which is 1960-69. D would be 1970-79, E would be 1980-89 and F would be 1990-99. Ford started using a different system in the 2000's. B would be for 1950-59 but the long lived numbering system was a little different then so they only used a 3 digit prefix until the mid to late 50's but the way the part numbers are decoded is the same. The second digit, which is 7, is the model year of the vehicle it was originally designed for which in this case is the 7th year of the 1960's which is 1967. So C7 is a 1967 part or rather a part that first came on a 1967 vehicle. The third digit is the model to which the part was originally designed for. O(with a letter o, not the number 0) is a Ford midsize reference which in this era was a Fairlane. It's sister car the Mercury Comet had a G code. The Mustang had a Z code. The parts with a Z are generally more sought after as are the O parts at least in the 60's and early 70's. D was for Maverick. F was for Pinto. A was for full size Fords(Galaxie etc). T was for Ford light truck. U was for Ford van. There were lots of models with their own codes and there was some variation and changes during the years. The fourth digit was the designated department that the part was designed under. In this case it's a Z which is your typical Ford division. Y would be for Mercury and Lincoln. X would be for the High Performance parts department and would be VERY rare and sought after. M would be for the similar Ford Motorsport, SVO, and Ford Racing departments. Most of what you'll see are Z and Y in the fourth digit. Keep in mind that parts could continue to be put on cars well after the part was originally made which is why you could have a C7OZ part on a 1970's Torino or other Ford, Mercury, Lincoln car or truck even though it was designed for a 1967 car. Also, just because a part was originally designed for a particular model doesn't mean it had to go only on that particular vehicle. That C7OZ part may have been used on a 1967 or newer Mustang as well or even a Galaxie. The base or group part number is the middle of the part number. 7A247 is a neutral safety switch and always will be no matter what model or year. the last digit is the version or revision digit. In this case, C is the 3rd version of this part which means there's also at least an A and a B out there that will fit other submodels or model options. In this case this is for an automatic with a console. A manual trans will have a B or C or even a D or E. Also, sometimes there os another number in addition to the regular part number. This is relatively rare. In this case SW-595 is the secondary part number. This is reserved for a few common types of parts. This being a switch has a prefix of SW(also used for sending units, etc) and a base part number of 595. This was done for easy reference. Here's a link that seems mostly right in explaining it: http://www.mustangsandmore.com/ubb/FordTechData.html Keep in mind he's not 100% correct in some of his third digit model codes.