Actually, pre-Gibson Epiphone had used the model code FT-79 previously, however that guitar, although sharing some of the same ornamentation, bore little resemblance to the Kalamazoo-era Texan, and never used the Texan name. The Texan was analogous to the Gibson J-45.
For more about the relationship between the Epiphone and Gibson brands in the 1960s, see this article on Gibson/Epiphone product alignment. By launching the Epiphone line, Gibson-owner CMI had the chance to increase their number of dealers, without diluting the exclusivity awarded to existing stockists. Becoming a Gibson stockist at this time was not easy, and there would be competition amongst dealers to win such a contract. When Gibson took over production of the Epiphone brand in 1957, numerous older pre-Gibson guitars were revived, however many new models also appeared, often directly comparable to existing Gibson models. The Texan was perhaps the best known of all Epiphone acoustic guitars, largely thanks to Beatle Paul McCartney who played the model during performances of Yesterday when the band played live in the mid-1960s. The Epiphone Texan was a model of jumbo flat top acoustic guitar, produced at Gibson's Kalamazoo plant between 19, shipping 7949 guitars in this 10 year period.
