Yep know it well was station at Port Angeles on the 41, and at Neah Bay on 44 MLB's.

The rides that sucked the most was the Polar rollers, taking Sea and Star from Seattle to Hawaii in the winter, beam seas most of the way in a ship shaped like a football.

 

It appears Driftwood Gray was a one year only standard color for 1963. It is correct for gray or white '63 Custom Cabs to have the red trim paint on bottom half of dash and red trim paint on inside door panels. Darker exterior colors would have used white as the contrasting color. Here is a '63 standard cab sold to the U.S. Navy, part of a large fleet order, with aluminum camper shells.

 

Excellent information Gentlemen! I certainly appreciate it. It is to me just a bit of a mystery.

If by chance this was sold to the Navy, I could definitely believe it was part of the fleet down in the San Diego area. There are a lot of big bases down there.

I wonder if there is a way to track down who the original owner was anyway. When I had my '37 Chrysler Royal project, I was able to track down the build sheet from Chrysler. I didn't get the original owner, but I did get the dealership info... I can't remember how I did, and I sold that car like 7 years ago along with all the paperwork I found on it.


Nevertheless, I am still on the fence about going back to original, or doing a little customizing. I've got 2.5 years(as of now) or possibly less, to get it in a better road worthy condition so when I transfer I wont have to worry about hauling it somewhere.

 

It wasn't sold to the US Gov't as the DSO code is 71. US Gov't purchased vehicles DSO code is 83.

Plus, the US Gov't bought the cheapest 'stripper' Standard Cabs, not Custom Cabs.

There are no records available for these trucks as FoMoCo THREW THEM AWAY decades ago.

 

Today- I started up the '63 for a warm up to ensure I could get it moving a little later in the day. I was moving houses today- and rented the uhaul trailer with the truck so I didn't have to drive my '63 to the new house 20 miles away. It's not safe to drive on the road. It started right up no problem this morning.

Come 3pm, I hop in, start it and let it warm up a bit. Apparently I must have grazed a wire under the dash (PO left a lot of loose live ones up under there) when letting out the clutch and the truck quit. Smoke started coming out from under the dash as something fried.

Further troubleshooting also revealed a bad battery charge as well. Got a charge on it and tried to start the truck again. Couldn't find the fried wires under the dash. Truck would start then die as soon as I stopped turning the key to "start". Ended up flooding the carb during this as well. Well I don't have a come-along, nor the ability to physically push it up on the car hauler.

Just pushed the truck back into the carport and returned the uhaul and car hauler so I wouldn't get charged overtime, and it was getting too dark to see. I am going to have to do this again next weekend. Can't during the week as I got a quick surgery Tuesday. Got to move out of this house by the 31st, so I have a few weeks to move the '63, but still on a timeline. I might just call in a flatbed tow truck and have them move it door to door for me this week. Probably cost less to do that then re-rent the car trailer and a vehicle to tow the trailer. My little CR-V can't!

Wouldn't you know it... Figured those wires were going to be a problem. Been doing a lot of searching threads on here for the last two days actually just brushing up on a few things. Looks like I am going to have to redo the entire wire harness as planned, but maybe sooner then I thought.
When I get this truck over to the new house which has a garage, I was going to work on the rear seals first and then the brakes. Guess I should track down the phantom wires. At least the garage is lit and dry... not standing in 40* Washington rain in the dark.

 

Check the resistor wire from ignition switch to coil.

 

The RATS nest of wires up under the dash. The culprit! the bulkhead connector it was connected to.the cab connector.
the Jumper.

Turned the key and Shipwrecked started right up.

Cost me a wire connector... and I bought an all purpose fire extinguisher and a battery charger.
So, 100.00 to fix the truck... I'm happy now. but a bit mad that I paid $50.00 for the car hauler yesterday and didn't get to use it.