What’s the differences between early and late 1967 Mustangs?

If you’ve got a 1967 Mustang, it likely that you’ve seen parts catalogs make a distinction between early and late production models. Several things about the 67 Mustang changed during the course of the year. In this video, I’ll show you the parts that are different, and how to spot those differences.

Some background:

The notion that there is only two variations of the 1967 Mustang, early and late production, is incorrect. The reality is: Ford phased out parts at different times during the production year, and each of the 3 Ford plants had their own schedule. For example, the early  San Jose cars all had solid shaft steering columns (except tilt-away optioned ones), not all late San Jose cars had rag joints.

In general, early 1967 Mustangs were built from August 1966 – December 1966, and late model is January to July. You can find the door tag with your build date on the edge of the drivers door. I’ll put the link to the Mustang door tag decoder in the description.

Ok, so what the difference?

1. Windshield Washer Reservoir

The easiest part to spot is the washer bag/washer tank. The early cars had a black bag that hung from the inner fender like mine. You can even see the original “FoMoCO” badging, which stands for Ford Motor company. The late 1967 mustangs had formed plastic container, like this example here.

2. Fuel & Brake Line Routing

Early 67 fuel lines were one piece and they ran along side the frame rail and the transmission tunnel. The later 67 mustangs were 2 piece and routed through the frame rail by the drivers seat, giving the line some added protection from accidental crimping when using a floor jack or from road debris. For the brake line, the change happened in early Feb of 67, the difference is two different routing options for the passenger side front brake. The early lines goes over the steering column, and the later one go under the steering column.

3. Steering Linkage

As I previously mentioned, the early 67s had solid shaft steering columns that was replaced with the rag joint for the later cars. This gets a little more confusing because there are different types of steering columns, collapsible and non collapsable, and they are several differing combinations to be found depending on what options your 67 mustang has, like a 390 big block engine. Starting sometime during the 67 model year collapsable columns were installed along with the short shaft steering box. the 1967 model year also has “8” different steering boxes.

4. Door & Trunk Hinges

These items changes during the year, as the mid year 67 revived the “68” style hinges. As you can see, mine are the early style hinges. Here’s what the late 67 mustang hinges look like.

These are the main differences, but there are several more than a concourse expert would be able to identify. There are even more subtle changes between each of the body styles and options packages. Let us know if we missed any in the comments!