Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General General Test Vehicle

How I seemed to have overlooked this until now is beyond me, however here's the deal. On the support that runs between the two front side fenders, right at the front of the car, where the hood support arm extends from, there's a small metal plate with stamped letters and numbers on it. This plate is only about 1.5" x 3". Among the letters and numbers stamped onto it, there are some that seem to coincide with different characters from the VIN, like the seq. ID # and the engine code and stuff like that. There's also some other numbers that don't seem to mean anything related to the VIN. Then, the key part. The bottom line says, in caps, TEST VEHI. Obviously, I'm assuming this was a test vehicle. Any idea if this is a good/bad thing to have a test vehicle, if this means it was one of the first SVT's made or if it was just one that was picked out of the line for random testing, or any other info that might be fun/interesting/useful to know about this designation? If anyone has any input into this little discovery, let me know. Thanks.

Dikran Callan
'99 SVT

Call 1-800-FORD-SVT and ask them your make #, that might give you some more insight.....

You can also check: Carfax The free full check is over but if you don't get enough info from Ford, it is possible there might be more here. They list types of registration as well as places and dates but not who it was registered to.

I think Ford would have the most info if it was a Ford Test vehicle and Carfax if it was some other companies test vehicle after they bought it from Ford.

Regards, Alan

My 2000 CSVT is also a test vehicle. I know the history, though. My friend works for Ford. He is friends with a guy who is an SVT design engineer. My CSVT was the engineer's personal vehicle to drive around and "test". For instance, apparently there were some test instruments attached to the section where the theft deterent light is at some point. Well, after some period, Ford was putting the car up for sale (with 14,000 miles). This engineer was going to buy it for himself, but knew my friend was looking for a car like it and let him buy it. After about a year and a half my friend got the itch for a new Mustang GT and sold me his CSVT.

Now, whether the cars being test vehicles is good or bad I don't know. I think you could argue either way. The way I chose to think about it was that I know for certain that for the first part of its life, my car had all the required service done and was maintained very well.

I find it very interesting that someone has come across that same TEST VEHI as my car has. Let me know if find anything out. Also, if you give me some more of the vehicle info, I may be able to find something more out for you through my friend. E-mail me if you want at kazooben@yahoo.com.