Ford Regions, Districts and Dealer Codes

[Brian S]

Regions

 

Ford divided the world into regions. This was represented by a single character.

• USA was divided into seven (7) regions, numbered 1 through 7

• Ford corporate departments were region “8”

• Export was assigned the number “9”

• Mercury-Canada was assigned the letter “A”
  

• Canada was assigned the letter “B”

• “Canada - Export” was assigned the letter “I”

Districts (Ford Division - 1967)

The District is often referred to as the ‘Ordering District,’ ‘Sales District,’ or ‘District Sales Office.’ It is a 2-character code, with the Region being the first character of it. The following list is how the Districts were configured in 1967. District codes changed over the years, and the following post provides the detail of when the changes took place. 

11	Boston, MA	51	Denver, CO
13	New York, NY	52	Des Moines, IA
15	Newark, NJ	53	Kansas City
16	Philadelphia, PA	54	Omaha, NE
17	Washington, DC	55	St. Louis, MO
21	Atlanta, GA	61	Dallas, TX
22	Charlotte, NC	62	Houston, TX
24	Jacksonville, FL	63	Memphis, TN
25	Richmond, VA	64	New Orleans, LA
27	Cincinnati, OH	65	Oklahoma City, OK
28	Louisville, KY	71	Los Angeles, CA
32	Cleveland, OH	72	San Jose, CA
33	Detroit, MI	73	Salt Lake City, UT
34	Indianapolis, IN	74	Seattle, WA
35	Lansing, MI	75	Phoenix, AZ
37	Buffalo, NY	81	Ford of Canada
38	Pittsburg, PA	83	Government
41	Chicago, IL	84	Home Office Reserve
42	Fargo, ND	85	American Red Cross
43	Milwaukee, WI	89	Transportation Services
44	“Twin Cities”, MN
45	Davenport, IA

B1	Canada - Central	B4	Canada - Midwestern
B2	Canada - Eastern	B6	Canada - Western
B3	Canada - Atlantic	B7	Canada - Pacific

90-99 Export

I1-I3 Canada Export

Note: Lincoln-Mercury sales districts were different than Ford's in the USA. In Canada, they were geographically the same, but with Ax codes rather than Bx codes.

Ford Dealer Codes

Ford dealer codes consisted of six (6) alphanumeric characters and could be found in the computer record for every passenger vehicle built by Ford.

The dealer code can be broken down as follows:

DISTRICT		DEALER
Region	District	Zone	0	0	0

Two different examples taken from 80-column punch cards for ‘67 Ford passenger vehicles:

Punch Card “1967 Ford Passenger Vehicle Order Card” (May ‘66)

Punch Card FD 8567-P “Ford Dealer’s Report of Vehicle Delivery for Passenger Vehicles”

Depending on the printed punch card, there was a slight variation in how the third character was referenced. The ‘67 vehicle order card did not specifically identify the third character as the ‘Zone,’ though the 1967 Ford Data Processing manual and the Dealer Report punch card both do.

We’ll use the example:  33A012

3 - Region 

    3 - District

        A - Zone (or Area)

            012 - Dealer Number

The three-digit numeric Dealer Number can be further categorized as follows:

000 - 199 Metropolitan Dealers

200 - 299 Multiple Point Dealers

300 - 999 Single Point Dealers

Dealer codes changed over time, as areas, districts, and regions were reduced or expanded as needed. These changes didn’t always follow a production model year or calendar year. A dealer’s code could have changed between the time a vehicle order record was created and the post-built record was entered into the computer system. Decades later, Ford shortened the dealer code to five (5) digits.

A ‘69 Shelby Automotive Company, Inc. (SACI) document confirms the Ford dealer code breakdown:

Shelby American, Inc. (SAI)

The federal government considered Shelby American, Inc. a manufacturer though Ford effectively treated SAI as a 'dealer.' 

As far as the Ford computer record for Shelby vehicles, all ‘67 Shelby G.T. vehicles were coded as Zone ”X”, Dealer “999.” 

Ford computer records reflect a District change from “84” (Home Office Reserve) to “89” (Transportation Services), circa May 1, 1967 for Shelby American. It remains our theory that this District change, from 84 to 89, was an indicator of when FoMoCo formally acquired SAI.

Non-Ford dealers that sold Shelbys

Not all automobile dealers that sold Shelby vehicles were also Ford dealers. We’ve found two such examples: 

• Hi-Performance Motors in California
• Foreign Car Center in Birmingham, Alabama

There may be others… 

See Also:

• Ford District Demonstrators

• SAI Ordering District Changes 71->84->89
  

• “Z” VINs, non-franchised Shelby dealers and “Continuation” Invoices
  

• FAQ: How do I find out the DSO number that my car was ordered on?
  

• Terminology Used Throughout this Group
  

[Brian S]

We've chosen to expand on our District topic a bit. Honestly, we had no intention of heading down this 'rabbit hole,' however, we've found so many Marti reports with incorrect dealer codes (for the vehicle's model year that the report is for), that we felt it was worth organizing and presenting the data it in a clear, concise and easy to understand visual form. Hopefully, this endeavor will be of benefit to the entire 1964-1973 Ford enthusiast community.

It is our best guess that the dealer decode errors on Marti reports may be a result of using district/dealer codes from a later year. This is often evident when comparing the values found in columns 70-75 of the 80-column computer record (near the top of your report) with the Dealer code on the left side of the report (just above the dealer name and address).  Nearly all the 'errors' we've found are isolated to district codes that changed after 1967 (usually in 1968 and/or 1971). Pay special attention to the districts of Cincinnati, Cleveland, Detroit, Indianapolis, Lansing, Buffalo, Pittsburg, Twin Cities, Davenport, Denver, Des Moines, Dallas, Houston, Memphis, New Orleans, and Oklahoma City. As you will see in the infographics that follow, those districts all changed between 1967 and 1971.

And remember, the Lincoln-Mercury Districts were different.

By District Name (Ford Division)

Ford Motor Company - Ford Division

Area, or

US

1964

1965

1966

1967

1968

1969

1970

1971

1972

73

US City

State

'64

'65

'66

'67

'68

'69

'70

'71

'72

'73

Boston

MA

11

Buffalo

NY

12

37

12

New York

NY

13

Pittsburg

PA

14

38

14

Newark

NJ

15

Atlanta

GA

21

Charlotte

NC

22

Philadelphia

PA

23

16

Jacksonville

FL

24

Richmond

VA

25

Washington

DC

26

17

Cincinnati

OH

31

27

47

Cleveland

OH

32

42

Detroit

MI

33

48

Indianapolis

IN

34

46

Lansing

MI

35

45

Louisville

KY

36

28

Chicago

IL

41

Fargo

ND

42

Rockford

IL

43

Milwaukee

WI

43

'Twin Cities'

MN

44

58

Davenport

IA

45

56

Denver

CO

51

76

Des Moines

IA

52

Kansas City

MO

53

Omaha

NE

54

St. Louis

MO

55

Dallas

TX

61

52

Houston

TX

62

57

Memphis

TN

63

23

New Orleans

LA

64

26

Oklahoma City

OK

65

Los Angeles

CA

71

San Jose

CA

72

Salt Lake City

UT

73

Seattle

WA

74

Phoenix

AZ

75

Alaska

AK

7D

Ford of Canada

81

Government

83

Home Office Reserve

84

American Red Cross

85

Body Company

87

Transportation Services

89

Export

90-99

Canada - Central

B1

Canada - Eastern

B2

Canada - Atlantic

B3

Canada - Midwestern

B4

Canada - Western

B6

Canada - Pacific

B7

Canada - Government

H3

Canada - Export

I1

Canada - Export

I2

Canada - Export

I3

Canada - Export

I4

Canada - Export

I5

Canada - Export

I6

Canada - Export

I7

By District Number:(Ford Division)

		Ford Motor Company - Ford Division
		63	1964		1965		1966		1967		1968		1969		1970		1971		1972		73
Region	District	'64		'65		'66		'67		'68		'69		'70		'71		'72		'73
1	11	Boston, MA
1	12	Buffalo, NY															Buffalo, NY
1	13	New York, NY
1	14	Pittsburg, PA															Pittsburg, PA
1	15	Newark, NJ
1	16							Philadelphia, PA
1	17	Washington, DC
2	21	Atlanta, GA
2	22	Charlotte, NC
2	23	Philadelphia, PA															Memphis, TN
2	24	Jacksonville, FL
2	25	Richmond, VA
2	26	Washington, DC															New Orleans, LA
2	27							Cincinnati, OH
2	28							Louisville, KY
3	31	Cincinnati, OH
3	32	Cleveland, OH
3	33	Detroit, MI
3	34	Indianapolis, IN
3	35	Lansing, MI
3	36	Louisville, KY
3	37							Buffalo, NY
3	38							Pittsburg, PA
4	41	Chicago, IL
4	42	Fargo, ND									possibly absorbed into Twin Cities						Cleveland, OH
4	43	Rockford, IL						Milwaukee, WI
4

44

'Twin Cities', MN

4	45	Davenport, IA															Lansing, MI
4	46										Indianapolis, IN
4	47										Cincinnati, OH
4	48																Detroit, MI
5	51	Denver, CO
5	52	Des Moines, IA									maybe absorbed into Omaha						Dallas, TX
5	53	Kansas City
5	54	Omaha, NE
5	55	St. Louis, MO
5	56										Davenport
5	57																Houston, TX
5	58																'Twin Cities', MN
5	5D
6	61	Dallas, TX
6	62	Houston, TX
6	63	Memphis, TN
6	64	New Orleans, LA
6	65	Oklahoma City, OK													Likely absorbed into Dallas Dist 52
7	71	Los Angeles, CA
7	72	San Jose, CA
7

73	Salt Lake City, UT

7

74

Seattle, WA

7

75

Phoenix, AZ

7

76

Denver, CO

7

7D

Alaska

8

81

Ford of Canada

8

83

Government

8

84

Home Office Reserve

8

85

American Red Cross

8

87

Body Company

8

89

Transportation Services

9

90's

Export

A

A1

A

A2

A

A3

A

A4

A

A6

A

A7

B

B1

Canada - Central (Ford)

B

B2

Canada - Eastern (Ford)

B

B3

Canada - Atlantic (Ford)

B

B4

Canada - Midwestern (Ford)

B

B6

Canada - Western (Ford)

B

B7

Canada - Pacific (Ford)

H

H3

Canada - Government

I

I1

Canada - Export

I

I2

Canada - Export

I

I3

Canada - Export

I

I4

Canada - Export

I

I5

Canada - Export

I

I6

Canada - Export

I

I7

Canada - Export

The SRG's focuses on the 1967 Shelby G.T. and the underlying 1967 Ford Mustang platform. We do not represent this information to be error-free and truly encourage your feedback, criticisms, and corrections if you find any mistakes in our published work. If you would like to use and/or share this information for non-commercial purposes, we ask that you also include a hyperlink to this topic so that interested parties can always check the source for updates and corrections. 

As we gather more data, this topic will be updated.

Last updated: 2020-11-03

[Brian S]

Interested to see what geographic area each of the Ford Regions (for 1967) covered, we took the Ford dealer codes and their corresponding address and plotted them for the USA. Our data is 'corrected,' meaning that the proper district code for the dealer was used based on the District codes that existed in 1967, not necessarily the district in the dealer code printed on Marti report above the dealer name & address. 

The following map plots were generated on Nov-10, 2020, using approximately 450 Ford dealers we've been able to identify.

As we gather more dealer codes and addresses, we'll be able to further refine these plots to show the different Districts and even the zones within the districts. All it takes is more data, so please keep sending us your data!

Region 1

Region 2

Region 3

Region 4

Region 5

Region 6

Region 7

[1967 Shelby Research Group]

Cleaned up the Gantt chart. This is primarily a Ford Division plot. Lincoln-Mercury divisions were different.