Ok I will try to explain this as best as I can. As many of you know the 1977 F-250 odometer did not come with a 6th digit. So once the truck reached 99,999.9 miles, the odometer turned back over to zero. Now I know form the VIN that the truck was manufacured in San Jose,CA. When I bought it, it had Forest Fire stickers all over it and even had a huge fire extinguisher. I was told it was a brush fire truck in CA. Now with that in mind.....does anyone think a brush truck would accumulate a lot of miles? The truck right now reads 59,117. Here's my question......Is there any way I can find out the actual mileage for my truck? I don't know if it's 59,000, 159,000 or what and I need to find this out ASAP. Does anyone know of a vehicle history report that goes back into the '70's? I need some suggestions here. All info is greatly appreciated. Thanx.

 

A tough question. Here in NY, the mileage is recorded and reported to the state capitol each year during the vehicle's safety inspection; maybe California does the same(?)

As to how many miles are put on a fire truck...if it sat next to an office, only to be used for official business, then it may well have just 59,000 miles. However, if it was one that was regularly driven around to the fire-spotting towers up in the mountains, well... The other question would be: how long did the fire service own it? I know LAPD and CHP keep their current vehicles a lot longer due to budget constraints, but I think government agencies traded them a lot more often 20-some years ago. The fire service may have put just a few miles on it in a couple years, but the subsequent owners could have been doing 25,000 miles/ year or more.

 

California records the mileage every two years when the smog check is done. Unless your truck is smog exempt because it's heavy duty, the DMV should have record of the mileage at each smog check. Call the CA DMV and hope you get someone nice who speaks English.