Hello Everyone,
I joined here a while back, but have been lurking mostly. The OFCC site is down now, so I thought it was a good excuse to come over here and see if y'all could help me out with some questions on my '66 Crew.

 

I forgot to finish my questions :-)

I know a 6 digit DSO number usually means some aftermarket Bed/Equipment. I'm just not sure if this one was 6 digits due to the crew nature of the truck or if it had a service or flatbed on it. It's an F351, which should have had a 9' bed on it if it was a "stock" wrong-bed or flareside bed.

Solid Front axle with slipper leafs


Pizza cutter wheels and tires with the oddball Ford/Dodge/International wide 6-lug and a D70 with 4.88s I believe


Battery tray in front passenger side floorboard


It's a beast, with a chevy 8ft bed!

 

Can't see the pics :/

 

Okay, let me try to fix that...

 

Sweet truck, ugly bed lol. My suggestion would be a home built flat bed

 

I am considering a stakebed with a liftgate as a possibility. Just curious what it actually came with first. Thanks for checking it out!

 

You are one lucky feller right there.

 

Thanks man... I feel lucky.

I've been wanting and looking for a '66 Crew for a loooong time. I actually started calling this type of truck the Holy Grail 'cause it seemed impossible. Then I just got lucky... second guy to call, hit it off and bought it over the phone after he sent me some text pictures. I'm still in shock that it actually happened!

Over 80 guys called after I bought it and a few offered him more money to send my money back... he's a solid dude and wouldn't do it.

 

love the truck but like it was already said (lose the bed) hahahaha
do you know if you can swap out the chevy bed with a 8ft 66 ford bed?
but ya, really do love the look of the cab.

 

That is what I'm trying to figure out by researching the DSO number.

 

You not going to find much information on the DSO. The first two digits will tell you what district sales office ordered it. The rest of the information was thrown out by ford.

 

VIN: F35YC790393 // Warranty Plate: W.B. 132 / COLOR: blank * / MODEL: F351 / BODY: N81 / TRANS: A / AXLE: 22 / MAX GVW: 08000 / Cert. net HP: 172 / RPM: 4000 / DSO: 730030

F35 = F350.

Y = 352 2V

C = Oakville, Ontario Canada Truck Assembly Plant.

790393 = 1966, assembled December 1965.

132" Wheelbase.

COLOR: blank.*

F351 = F350, 8,000 lbs. GVWR / This is all that F351 decodes to, nothing else.

N81: N = Red Crush Vinyl & Red Cody Pattern Woven Plastic / 81 = 81A Standard Cab.

A = New Process 435 4 Speed Manual Transmission.

22 = Dana 70 Rear Axle / 4.83-1 / non Limited Slip / 7,400 lb. Rear Axle Capacity.

8,000 lbs. Gross Vehicle Weight Rating.

172 net HP @ 4,000 RPM

730030:

73 = Salt Lake City UT Ford District Sales Office, where the original selling dealer ordered the truck from.

0030 = Domestic Special Order number: The truck was ordered special by the original purchaser, not "bought off the lot."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* When there is no COLOR code, the vehicle is painted a non standard color per the original purchasers request. When this occurres, the vehicle is a Domestic Special Order.

Obviously the wheelbase is not 132" .. but it was when the truck "was born." All 1965/72 FoMoCo assembled Crew Cabs were made by modifying Regular Cabs. There was no Crew Cab specific body until 1973.

The Oakville Ontario Canada Truck assembly plant assembled most 1965/66 and all 1967/79 Crew Cabs. Some 1965/66 Crew Cabs were also assembled at the Michigan truck assembly plant.

Some 1965 Crew Cabs were assembled by Crown Coach, some were assembled by FoMoCo. Crown Coach Crew Cabs differ as the rear door hinges are exposed, the rear door window frames are different than FoMoCo Crews.

There is no way...none to determine if this truck was originally sold as a: Crew Cab, as a Cab & Chassis, with a Flareside or Styleside Bed, with a factory installed Stake or Flat Bed.

There is noway...none to determine if this truck came with any type of Domestic Special Order "back-of-cab" equipment or anything else.

The reason: FoMoCo THREW AWAY all this info decades ago, and...

The VIN SERIES code (first 3 digits) and MODEL codes of these trucks do not decode to any of this jazz, and did not until 1973!

Beginning in 1968, the BODY code also decodes to either a Pickup (does not specify Flareside or Styleside) or to a Cab & Chassis.

1953/66 F350's came with 6 lug wheels on a 7.25" bolt circle, the only Ford trucks to have this pattern.

For further Crew Cab info, FTE member garbz2 is the one to ask as he knows more about these trucks than anyone else on FTE, and prolly elsewhere as well.

 

Thank you ND! I really appreciate the time you took to decode that for me.

A lot of confirming information there and some really nice new information. I figured 73 was a western DSO and that matches some vehicle characteristics. The hitch on the truck was installed in SLC. The seats in the truck are a beige brown weave with beige vinyl uppers that hove the gear/bolt logo. Probably a redo based upon the Red crush info. Very interesting stuff...

Well, it looks like the bed search is up to me... I'm guessing a 9ft Wrongbed is gonna be hard to find... but I also heard the 8ft Wrongbeds were what came on the crews.
Stakebed sounds better every minute.

 

Dave (garbz2) will be the one to ask, but I doubt that either the 9' Express Styleside 'wrong' Bed or 9' Express Flareside Bed was installed. Crew woulda been well over 20 ft long, longer than the tub in my sig pic.

More than likely, either the short 'wrong' Styleside or Flareside Beds would have been installed. Elephantine behemoth S/Crew in my sig pic has the 5.5' bed, is 231 1/2" long. Can be a b!tch to manoeuver in tight spaces.

Most of these trucks were bought by the US Gov't (Military, National Park & Forestry Services), RR's, petroleum industry, mining operations, logging and etc companies that needed vehicles that could carry a minimum of 6 peeps.

Usually the bed was an afterthought, only long enough to carry certain equipment.

There's a huge Kennecott copper mining operation located WSW of SLC in Tooele. Ogden (N of SLC) is the western HQ for the UPRR. The Transcontinental RR was completed May 10, 1869 at Promentory Summit, WNW of Ogden.

 

I should tell you that the truck is in Torrance, CA now and will be going between Torrance, Hawthorne, and Julian (near San Diego) for the next few years of its life. Once I get it on the road, we'll have to get together at some point.

I'll definitely try to hook up with garbz2/Dave for his expertise. Yep, it's over 20' now. I do think it had a long bed of some kind, because it has an 8' bed now and the frame is cut off with a torch as it sticks out past the end of the bed. I'll know more when I get the bed off of it one of these days. Thanks again!