Earliest 340 production date/number
mine was april 22 67...august 28 built car
Very possible. They would want to build up a "bank" of engines a few months ahead of the car plant launch.
Then they would have time to dyno test a few to make sure that they meet up to standards and are good enough to send to customers. They would not let the engines go into production until they completed some dyno testing. This testing could take 2-4 weeks to complete on a dyno.
I'm sure that they had some engines from the first batch of the build before production that were on dynos at Highland Park within a week of when the engines were built.
They would also have the blocks cast and then run them through the engine block line before the launch.
Then maybe sit for a few weeks until they were run down the engine assembly line. Then have a batch of them ready to support the launch at the car assembly plants. I'm sure they only put them in cars that were built at one plant before the rest started. All the design engineers would have been there to make sure that their parts were not having any problems, and address any problems that may come up, and show the production operators how they go together.
