[DavidG]

With regard to the comments offered regarding the early '33 phaeton with what was likely a leftover '32 engine, the practice of the new model Job #1s occurring in the third or early fourth quarter of the previous job applies to Ford only after the '33 model year. Job #1 for the U.S. '32 models was March 10th, 1932 and last job in the U.S. was in February, 1933. No '33 model production occurred in the 1932 calendar year. Job #1 was in January, 1933 at the Rouge (even though the Kansas City Plant was still producing '32 models in that month).

The engine production log of the Rouge Plant states that the first '33 model engine was produced on November 14, 1932 with the number 207867. The first '33 engine equipped with aluminum cylinder heads was produced the same day (number 208788 with a 40 prefix, which was used for several days until the prefix reverted to 18). Number 207866 was not the last '32 engine built, however, as likely an additional number were produced that day with numbers between 207868 and 208787. The Rouge Engine plant produced no V-8 engines between November 15 and December 19, 1932.

As for a '32 V-8 engine with a number of approximately 175,000, it would be fair to describe it as fairly late, but certainly not very late.

So, according to Ford's engine production records, a '33 model with an engine number of approximately 175,000 could only represent a leftover '32 engine installed in a '33 chassis. (As for the possibility of the subject '33 being a prototype, all available evidence indicates that Ford was [and remains] ruthless in destroying its prototypes, preventing them from entering the public domain.