Why the Buck Tag Number was Created

[Bobs88CobraGT]

As you may, or may not, know the 82 to 93 Dearborn Mustang paint line was not automatic.The colors were all there but the paint heads all had to be cleaned by hand before painting could start with a different color. This took a lot of time away from actual production. The Buck Tag Number allowed any car that had an assigned vin number to be put on the daily production run in any order Ford wanted. This buck tag number allowed the daily production line people to CHOOSE ALL THE SAME COLOR CARS THEY WANTED TO MAKE. This prevented the assembly line from having to be shut down as often . The production line people BATCHED CARS BY COLOR AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE but they were also very careful to find as many cars, with the same options, as they could. Everything was done to keep the line moving. If you have a Marti Report you will notice it tells you the day your car was bucked and the day it was built along with a lot of other stuff. Ford did keep track of information about these cars. In 1994 the paint assembly line became automated and after every car the paint heads were cleaned and this allowed every car to be a different color.