The drawings
are arranged by engineering part number and at present we have no
index or listing of the 1,069,500 Ford Motor Company engineering
drawings.
The
drawings are on 70MM microfilm. Each is in a manila envelope with
the drawing number and the latest revision date noted on the outside.
The drawings were sometimes updated daily and other times the
same drawing was used for twenty years. Prefixes indicate on what
model vehicle the drawing was originally used. Suffixes indicate
an engineering level revision for the part. The drawings are housed
in document boxes and arranged in three basic categories: Pre-Model
T and T, Model A and Post Model A.
Drawings
were used for different purposes and list different types of information.
Included are:
- Assembly
drawings: These note part numbers for the different components
of a part assembly but do not show very few if any measurements.
- Forging
or casting drawings: These show the part with measurements but
at different stages of a part development.
- SK
or Experimental drawings: These are sketches used to develop
a new part or to show specific information such as how a part
is assembled or a side view of the vehicle with measurements
of only the passenger compartment, etc.
The
company put out Parts List Manuals that detail part numbers but
since the publication was meant for the retail markets, a part
that is sold as an assembly is only listed by the assembly
number. The individual assembly parts are not listed. To bridge
this gap, the company drew assembly drawings, which identify
all of the components of each assembly and their numbers. There
are usually no dimensions on these assembly part drawings. They
serve only as a list of the assembly components.
There
is another companion collection of Releases. This is text
information that details production release dates for the part,
reasons for changes in the part and may also note on what models
the part was used or refer to replacement part numbers.