Hi again!
Yesterday I spent two hours waiting at the registry (DMV) to title and register the (new to me) '65 Camper Special. They of course charge sales tax on the claimed book value, which was about 2x what I paid for the truck. And they just raised all the fees for title, registration, inspection, etc.

The shipping guys dropped off the truck today. Got the new tags on it and drove it around the neighborhood. Fun fun fun! Now I'll have to break out my Ford jacket from when I used to work in the plant! Hopefully it still fits.

Here is a pic of the warranty tag on the driver door. What info can be gleaned?
172 hp seems low for a 352..



Overall, she runs and drives pretty well. Pretty much nothing electrical except the headlights and tail lights works properly. No turn signals, no horn, no blower, no radio. The wipers come on but the linkage looks very sloppy, so that will need attention.

Is it better to post questions one-to-a-thread, or bunch them all together in one thread?

 

OK, so I confirmed that the D in the VIN is for the 352 and the R means it was built in San Jose, which makes the story that it is originally a CA truck plausible.

Any other tips would be useful. The trans is a four speed granny low and the rear end is supposedly a 4.88. Does that match up with the tag info above?

 

Congratulations on your new truck! I can decode much of the information on your warranty plate. I'm sure Number Dummy will be along to provide additional information. F25 = F250 2 wheel drive truck. D = 352 cubic inch, 2V FE V8 engine. R = assembled at San Jose, CA. 709606 = built in July, 1965. 129 = wheelbase in inches. Blank exterior color code relates to the truck being a Domestic Special Order vehicle. F250 = 7500 pound Gross Vehicle Weight rated three quarter ton truck. AE81 = red upholstery. ND will have a more thorough description as well as cab description. My software with that info on it went away. N = 4 speed manual transmission. Either a Borg Warner or a New Process 4 speed was offered, both with granny first gears. 24 = Dana 60 non-limited slip axle with 4.10 gears. 7500 = GVW rating in pounds. 172@4000 rpms = NET horsepower (208 gross) and rpms where achieved. 712886 = Domestic Special Order from Los Angeles district sales office. Unfortunately, DSO paperwork no longer exists to determine exactly what was ordered. In my humble opinion, you should start a separate thread for each discrepancy you want help with. Some helpers on this site can fix anything, but some specialize. You might as well keep everything orderly. Have you checked your fuses (fuse box is attached to the headlight switch under the dash) for some of your electrical faults? The turn signal switch is also a common "fail" item you may find needs replacing after you troubleshoot everything. Anyway, hope this helps. Good luck!

 

TRANS: N = New Process 435 4 Speed Manual Transmission. N code only used in 1965, A was used 1966/79 for NP435. (If a Warner T-18, TRANS code would be F).

BODY AE81: AE = Red Crush Vinyl & Red Cody Pattern Woven Plastic / 81 = 81B Custom Cab.

DSO 712886:

71 = Los Angeles (SoCal) Ford District Sales Office, where the original selling dealer ordered the truck from.

2886 = Domestic Special Order number, truck was special ordered by the original purchaser, not "bought off the lot."

No COLOR code stamped on the Warranty Plate - Vehicle painted a non standard color per the original purchasers order, which makes it as Domestic Special Order.

 

Thanks for the tips, SuperSabre. That is helpful info.

Curious on the red interior - the only things that are red are the steering wheel and the arm rests. I suppose that means the seat (black) has been recovered at some point? What else would have been red in a stock interior?

Also on the rear end, if the stock is a 4.10:1, then the story from the PO that it is a 4.88 is either wrong, or it was swapped in. Would either ring/pinion set fit in the same housing? Is there some other ID area that would confirm? Or as I saw in another post, is it time to count driveshaft vs. wheel revolutions?

 

Compare the VIN on the Warranty Plate to the VIN on the registration/title to see if they match.

VIN on Warranty Plate known as the Warranty Number, FoMoCo says it's not for title or registration purposes (as it's too EZ to change).

The usual reason: People replaced damaged left doors with used doors. 99.9% of the time, they failed to install the original Warranty Plates on the replaced doors.

If the VIN's do not match, the Warranty Plate decode is wrong.

Spicer/Dana 60 with 4.10 rear axle ratio uses a different case than 4.88.

C3TZ-4204-G .. Differential Case: 3.54-1 - 4.10-1.

B5D-4205-A .. Differential Case: 4.56-1 - 4.88-1.

Case shown as basic number 4204 or 4205 in parts catalog pic:

 

Bill,
Thanks for the info. The serial number on the warranty tag does match the VIN. So the door is likely original. The color paint shown in the area on the inside of the door jamb appears to be the original paint color. The exterior was resprayed at some later date in the current school-bus-ish color in a semi-professional way with a lot of overspray.

Alec