1959 was the first year FoMoCo offered Limited Slip (Equa-Lok) as an option. Traction-Lok was introduced 1968.

Trans and axle listed as such was a carryover from 1948/56. I'm not sure, but I think that the Rating Plate used in 1957 is 1957 only (EDIT-SEE POST 18). There were at least two different styles of these plates used 1957/60.

Since the only 4 speed available for F100/350's from 1953 thru 1964 was the Warner T-98, that's what it is. Warner T-98 Rating/Warranty Plate TRANS code is F

No Ford Truck that I've ever seen has the Rating or Warranty Plate on the B pillar aka door post. What retains it, rivets or screws?

1970 was the first year for the Safety Standards Certification Label, it was glued to the B pillar aka door post below the striker plate thru 1980. This label has the production date, VIN, front/rear GVWR's listed on it.

I don't know much about these trucks, have never owned one and while I like the 1957 front end, when Ford went to dual headlamps in 1958/60, I consider these trucks butt ugly. Sorry guys, but that's my opinion.

 

It is screwed on the B pillar. My dad's buddy has a 57 that I went to look at last week "while we were in the neighborhood" (it's that kind of town), and his was in the same spot, except it was smaller like the ones I have seen in the glove box on the 58-60s. His was also riveted once on each end just like the 58-60s. As mentioned by a few, it seems my truck was very early in production for 57, so maybe that is why it has things spelled out and not coded. One gentlemen said the "RED" next to my paint code was probably identifying the standard red, woven seat. Thoughts? That was the original question of this thread. Just trying to piece things together history/option wise. This truck is super sentimental to me. It was my Grandad's (mom's side). Funny enough, it was scheduled to be produced on my mom's B-day - 28A. Thanks again for your help.

 

Ford had assembly line problems with the 1957's. AFAIK, none were assembled until January 1957. Usually new vehicle production begins in August of the previous year.

28A = January 28, 1957.

Dumb me I forgot I just bought a bound paper 1956/57 Ford Truck Chassis Parts Catalog (printed February 1957) from an FTE member.

On page IV of the General Info Section it shows a pic of the: 1956/1957 Rating Plate.

Pic in 1957/63 Ford Truck Parts Catalog (final edition, printed in 1970) shows a 'general pic' of the 1957/60 Rating Plate. But it appears from what I've read in this thread, that there were two plates used in 1957.

1956/57 catalog states: As in 1956, the 1957 truck Rating Plate is attached to the left front cab pillar.

Left front cab pillar aka windshield post aka A pillar.

There are no BODY codes on these trucks Rating Plates. The BODY code decodes to the type of seat material and color.

I have a 1957/68 FoMoCo 'Soft Trim' Parts Catalog. Actual color swatches of the types/colors of upholstery used in these trucks are pictured on the glossy pages.

If ibuzzard (Steve) knew how to scan and post pics (I don't either), I'd send him the pages, then they could be posted here. Any of y'all live in LA LA Land that know how to do this jazz?

btw: I see you live in WY. I'm a life member of the Winchester Arms Collectors Assn (WACA #88), and a member of the Winchester Firearms Museum that is part of the Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Cody WY

 

Here's an original ford ad depicting the seats. Standard cab seat is on the left, Custom Cab on the right. The color presented was the only one available, regardless of the truck's exterior color.

 

Fair enough ... thanks for all the help guys. I have another question ... (I'm sure there will be more soon). Mine is the custom cab, so what did my door panels and kick panels look like? All that is left is the cardboard backing with the clips still holding them on (see interior pic in Post #7 ).

 

The kick panels were likely added by a previous owner. None of my literature mentions anything regarding a special kick panel option, or mention of special kick panels as part of an option group. Ford did offer a Safety Package "A,” which consisted of a padded dash and padded sun visors (extremely rare option). Mr4SpeedFord has a vast collection of Ford ads and literature, and my be able to speak more to the subject. If the items appear factory-installed, they may have been an early production option that was quickly dropped.

 

The door panels do appear to be factory installed. I removed one, and there was no metal access cover on the door. I pushed gently on the other side, and it felt "soft" indicating that there is no access cover on it either. Both the door panels and the kick panels are affixed to the truck with the same mounting style. They are little button clips. Interesting ...

Edit: If the kick panels are legit ford parts, are the door panels then too? Whether they are or not, do you think in this case they were on the pickup in production? My pickup was not special ordered that I am aware of as the DSO is blank. I am just trying to logically think about it. If I were going to ADD door panels as the original owner, I would not have discarded the metal access cover like, "oh, I don't need these anymore!" The door panels and kick panels are both attached with the EXACT SAME CLIPS.

 

Source: 1957/68 Ford Truck Soft Trim Parts Catalog:

1957: B7C-8102344-AA Right & B7C-8102345-AA Left .. Cowl Trim (kick) Panels.

1958: B8C-8102344-BA Right & B8C-8102345-BA Left .. Cowl Trim Panels.

These panels are not listed for 1959 or 1960.
-------------------------------------------
transam525: Since the OP has a 1957, do you have any 1957 literature, or only 1960 literature?

Post #19: The interior pic you posted applies to 1960 only. What FoMoCo did one year, may/may not apply to other year(s).
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EDIT DSO: Domestic Special Order only applies if the vehicle is painted a non standard color or something was installed that was not available as an RPO: Regular Production Order for a specific vehicle..

Thru 1962: There is no DSO code, unless the vehicle was a Domestic Special Order. Beginning in 1963, all vehicles have a DSO, could be 2 numbers, could be 6.

2 numbers: Decodes to the specific Ford District Sales Office the vehicle was ordered from. 6 numbers, the first 2 apply to the sales office, the last 4 denote a Domestic Special Order.

If the paint formula was required or a part had failed that had been installed as a Domestic Special Order, what could the parts department do, since there would be no reference?

We contacted FoMoCo, passed along the 6 digit DSO. FoMoCo looked up the order number, then gave us the info. Same system used today.

1979: I ordered a F150 Lariat Super Cab because I wanted it 'loaded.' There were no trucks available locally equipped like I wanted, that the dealer I was working at...could have 'dealer traded' for.

All the parts I wanted installed were RPO's, so the truck was not a Domestic Special Order. The DSO code on the Warranty Plate: 71 = Los Angeles (SoCal) Ford District Sales Office.

 

Bill, you are amazing. Thanks for all the info. So I understand that the part numbers with the little waving smiley face are for the kick panels. Door panels are still a mystery then? I wish I had the library that some of you have so I didn't keep pestering you guys with questions! LOL!

 

B7C-8123890-A Right & B7C-8123891-A Left ..1957 Front Door Trim Panels.

The 1957/63 Ford Truck Parts Catalog is available on CD from hipoparts.com. AFAIK, does not include the colored swatches that the soft trim catalog does. My '57/63 version is the original loose leaf paper catalog.

faxonautolit.com (walk in store located in Riverside CA) has owners/shop manuals, sales and accessory brochures, salesman's fact books and other paper literature that silverfish love to feast on!

May have a soft trim catalog that applies to 1957 or to 1957 and other years.

When I joined FTE, I had exactly one parts catalog just for 1960/64 Ford Passenger Cars. I collected 1963/64 Galaxies for many years.

Now I have over 100 bound and loose leaf paper, 600 microfiche, 6 CD catalogs. Some were bought here and there, but the bulk of it (less the CD's) came from Pasadena Ford and I got them and two microfiche viewers for free.

August 2008, Pasadena Ford closed, had been in business since 1916 at the same location.

Their parts manager had originally been hired as the back (shop) parts counter driver at Beverly Hills Ford in 1969. Guess who the back parts counter partsguy was.

When I called Pasadena the day before they closed, I asked the parts manager (I didn't know who he was, as I had lost track) if I could buy the catalogs and etc.

He said: "I recognize the voice, but cannot put a face to it, who is this?" I told him.

He said, "Bill...it's Bob, get your carcass over here ASAP, bring a truck, cuz you can have all of it!"

I didn't have a truck then, took my new 2008 Fusion, folded the rear seats down. When loaded, the *** end of that car was almost dragging on the pavement.

It's a good thing I didn't take one a my 5 Basset Hounds along, woulda had to strap him on the roof!

 

I have literature for the 1957-1960 conventional cab models, however most covers the 1960 model year specifically. The Ford ad was just to show the seat material and what was included in the Custom Cab package. I find the factory kick panels quite interesting. Were they available from the factory, or simply a dealer installed option? I've seen just about every option for the 1957-1960 line, including the padded dash, but never before padded kick panels.

 

I know how to do that ... just saying Does said catalog have swatches of the door and kick panels you found the parts numbers for?

 

The swatches are for everything, door panels, kick panels, seat upholstery, headliners and et cetera. The whole enchilada.

No offense, but I'm not going to send the pages that pertain to 1957/60's to someone I don't know so they can scan and post them here, especially someone from out of my area.

This catalog is almost as hard to find as Jimmy Hoffa! The only other one I've ever seen was located at Stockton Quincy Ford in Westwood (near UCLA), where I was worked as a partsman: 1965/67.

If there's an FTE member locally here in LA LA Land (Los Angeles/Orange Counties), then I could get together with him/her, have the pages scanned, then he/she could post them here.

I'd then ask the mod of this forum to 'sticky' them so they'd be available for all to view as long as FTE exists.

 

Lol!! I totally understand. I may actually be moving back to SoCal in about a year and a half. I am a Marine Officer, and hopefully will be stationed at Pendleton again. If somebody local can't get er done by then, I'll fix you up. The restoration of my 57 will begin at that time probably. I don't wanna drag it here to Oklahoma just to have to drag it to Cali so soon.

 

What's a USMC officer doing in Wyoming? There's no USN or USMC base located there that I'm aware of. Are you a recruiter?

"Sea-going bell hop" is what we swabbies called y'all in the old days, gyrene was another term. My dad, a former USN Commander (served 1940/47) said gyrene is the noise a fan makes when **** hits it.

How we hung skivvies on the line at USNTC San Diego, I cannot type here.

Sorry, I couldn't resist. Thanks for your service.

September 2011: USN donates battleship USS Iowa (BB61) to the Pacific Battleship Center. USS Iowa towed from Suisun Bay to Richmond for some repairs, will be towed to the Port of Los Angeles in May: Berth 87 as a museum ship.

Wonderful news. Signed on as a volunteer 2 years ago when LA and Vallejo both wanted the ship. Vallejo wanted to berth her at Mare Island.

Iowa Class: USS New Jersey (BB62) museum, Camden NJ / USS Missouri (BB63) museum, Pearl Harbor (berthed where the USS Maryland [BB46] was 7 December 1941) / USS Wisconsin (BB64) museum, Hampton Roads VA