I am trying to figure out what to put on a new VIN plate for my 56 F100. The old plate is missing. I do have a title with the # on it but there are other #'s that I don't know. I have 2 old plates that came off of junkers. One is off a 1956 F350 Wrecker that I parted out. The other is off a 1954 F600 that was in a scrap yard. The 56 F350 has " #" before and after the serial #. Has R for color which must be red because it was... Has production code of 12K270T. It also has two hashmarks("##") in the DSO spot. The F600 has "*" before and after the serial #. Has a "U" for color ( I don't know what color that is supposed to be). A production code of 16GLX1702. And it has 2 asterisks in the DSO spot ("**"). My questions are:
On a 56 f100, What should be the symbol before and after the serial #?
What is the color code for the medium green color?
What production code??? - it's different than the vin.
What goes in the DSO spot?
Thanks for any help you can give, Greg

 

The first 3 digits of the production code decode to the date of assembly (A: January, M: December, the letter I is skipped). After that, whatever symbols are present cannot be decoded.

Since there are no records available for these trucks from FoMoCo, it's impossible to know what the production code of your '56 F100 was.

An asterick was usually stamped before/after serial numbers (VIN's) on Rating Plates and frame VIN's. This was to prevent additional numbers being added by crooks.

Thru 1962: There is no DSO (Domestic Special Order) code unless the truck had no COLOR code stamped on the Rating Plate or SS stamped on the Rating Plate to denote a special non standard color.

Or if something special was added to the truck that was not an RPO (Regular Production Order) after it left the assembly line.

 

Thanks Bill! Just what I wanted!