Pre Production Cars & #'s

zzrat said:

Hi All, Just read in another post down the line here of the 16 MY stats. Stats indicate that 95 pre production cars were built of the 350's, would assume 350's & R's. Maybe someone could shed some light on the mix.

Well this gets the mind wondering about how many of these cars make it to the street, are crushed, or are still in existence? Also how many PP cars are built for each MY, speaking of the 350's.

I find it interesting & hoping to learn more.


A Thank You to Zombo for posting the 16 stats that were in the other topic.

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PP0001 said:

Ford typically produces 4 levels of Pre Production cars which can be very difficult to identify from each other. The only year that I am aware of whereby all 4 levels of PP cars could be identified were the 2012 Boss 302 cars.

The 4 levels of Pre Production cars are as follow.

VP - Variable Prototype - No VIN and in many cases a 1 of a kind car and always destroyed by Ford with Ford supervision. In most cases Ford has well over $1 million dollars of R&D into this level of pre production car.

TT - Tooling Tryouts - Comes with a VIN but again very few if any ever reach the general public. I remember coming across "TT0001" which was a 2012 Competition Orange Boss 302 and had a very hard life with transmission issues and ~13,000 miles on it and possibly the only TT car that got way from the factory.

PP - Pilot Production - Again these cars come with a VIN and typically do not reach the general public. In 2012 Ford produced 12 Pilot Production Boss 302 cars (LS and regular) with cars 1 to 5 reaching the general public in error with the last 7 cars being destroyed. PP0003 was a Canadian spec 2012 Boss 302 and resides with a friend of mine in Toronto. Typically Pilot Production cars are static display cars as was PP0002 which travelled the NASCAR circuit in 2011 and attended 16 races that year.

MP - Mass Production - These cars come with a VIN and are the last of the Pre Preproduction cars and typically reside with Ford execs and used for magazine shoots/testing etc. Many or most of these cars reach the general public as they are all sold through Manheim Auto Auctions at various locations in America.

In some cases the pre production cars that get destroyed by Ford are first used by local Fire and Rescue departments whereby they are used as dummies for practice with the jaws of life, auto fire reenactment's, etc. and again for with Ford supervision and then destroyed after the process has been completed.

If you see a 2015 to 2017 GT350/GT350R with the last 6 digits of the VIN ending in 200XXX then you have one of the pre production cars on your hands. The pre production Boss 302 cars were given a VIN series of 199XXX.

I was very fortunate to drive PP001 (2016 Black R model) and PP002 (2016 TY R model) at Sebring in October 2015 and really started to like the TY cars after that experience.

I have also driven H0005 (Grabber Blue) which is a 2017 GT350 and was not sure if it was a PP car or an MP car as the Shelby program does not designate the difference between the two as the Boss cars did.

I suggest that when the new GT500 cars come out in late 2018 that the pre production VIN series may still be 200XXX just as the Shelby GT350 cars but just speculation at this point.

;);)

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350_Dreamer said:

Just want to share these few photos from Mustang Alley @ Woodward Dream Cruise 2017. A couple of pre production GT350s saved from the crusher and sold to the marketing division for $1. Check out the pretty unique build on the white TT model (R splitter, body color mirrors, etc).

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jefc73 said:

That's pretty much correct. The plants don't see any of the VP builds. Early TT's are usually done at the pilot plant. later TT's done at production plant. Most PP and all MP builds are done at the production plants to prove out issues etc. The TT builds typically get destroyed or smashed. A lot get used for safety prove outs as well. Good info [MENTION=16421]PP0001[/MENTION]

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KS10 said:

Below is a link to a PP R that is currently for sale (PP011). The advertised VIN seems to flow with the info above posted by PP0001.

https://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-sale/vehicledetails.xhtml?listingId=460791313&zip=35222&referrer=%2Fcars-for-sale%2Fsearchresults.xhtml%3Fzip%3D35222%26keywordPhrases%3Dgt350r%26startYear%3D1981%26sortBy%3DderivedpriceDESC%26incremental%3Dall%26firstRecord%3D0%26endYear%3D2019%26searchRadius%3D200&startYear=1981&numRecords=25&firstRecord=0&endYear=2019&searchRadius=200&makeCode1=FORD&modelCode1=MUST

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PP0001 said:

Ford typically produces 4 levels of Pre Production cars which can be very difficult to identify from each other. The only year that I am aware of whereby all 4 levels of PP cars could be identified were the 2012 Boss 302 cars.

The 4 levels of Pre Production cars are as follow.

VP - Variable Prototype - No VIN and in many cases a 1 of a kind car and always destroyed by Ford with Ford supervision. In most cases Ford has well over $1 million dollars of R&D into this level of pre production car.

TT - Tooling Tryouts - Comes with a VIN but again very few if any ever reach the general public. I remember coming across "TT0001" which was a 2012 Competition Orange Boss 302 and had a very hard life with transmission issues and ~13,000 miles on it and possibly the only TT car that got way from the factory.

PP - Pilot Production - Again these cars come with a VIN and typically do not reach the general public. In 2012 Ford produced 12 Pilot Production Boss 302 cars (LS and regular) with cars 1 to 5 reaching the general public in error with the last 7 cars being destroyed. PP0003 was a Canadian spec 2012 Boss 302 and resides with a friend of mine in Toronto. Typically Pilot Production cars are static display cars as was PP0002 which travelled the NASCAR circuit in 2011 and attended 16 races that year.

MP - Mass Production - These cars come with a VIN and are the last of the Pre Preproduction cars and typically reside with Ford execs and used for magazine shoots/testing etc. Many or most of these cars reach the general public as they are all sold through Manheim Auto Auctions at various locations in America.

In some cases the pre production cars that get destroyed by Ford are first used by local Fire and Rescue departments whereby they are used as dummies for practice with the jaws of life, auto fire reenactment's, etc. and again for with Ford supervision and then destroyed after the process has been completed.

If you see a 2015 to 2017 GT350/GT350R with the last 6 digits of the VIN ending in 200XXX then you have one of the pre production cars on your hands. The pre production Boss 302 cars were given a VIN series of 199XXX.

I was very fortunate to drive PP001 (2016 Black R model) and PP002 (2016 TY R model) at Sebring in October 2015 and really started to like the TY cars after that experience.

I have also driven H0005 (Grabber Blue) which is a 2017 GT350 and was not sure if it was a PP car or an MP car as the Shelby program does not designate the difference between the two as the Boss cars did.

I suggest that when the new GT500 cars come out in late 2018 that the pre production VIN series may still be 200XXX just as the Shelby GT350 cars but just speculation at this point.

;);)

Click to expand...