I can remember my dad and uncle arguing over what the actual year model the F1 was.
Uncle said a '49....Dad said an early '50.

I can't find a decoder to help me out. Can anyone tell me what year this belongs to? Or anything else such as original color, build plant....anything? I believe the "8" refers to V-8.

98RC 360640

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Welcome to the forum!
9=1949-50 trucks
8R=239 V8 engine
C=F1
360640=consecutive unit number

That's all the data that's indicated by the serial number, or VIN as it's commonly known today. (That term did not exist back then) With a unit number that high, it would be a 1950 model. Production codes were physically stamped into the firewall, typically near the cowl seam. If you still have the truck and can look under the hood and locate it, post what you find and we can decode that for you, too. That's where you'll find the assembly plant, color, and build date info. Sometimes on the patent plate, located on the upper left corner of the firewall as you look under the hood, there could be an assembly plant code marked after the serial number.

 

Thanks for the responses. I've looked all over the fire wall especially by the cowl and can't find any stamped numbers.
There are two numbers that follow the production number, however. It looks like OO.

 

It should be 2 or 3 letters. I don't know what code would be OO. You might take another look.

[img]https://www.picclickimg.com/00/s/NzQ5WDk5OQ==/z/jQUAAOSwvjBbAzrZ/$/49-1949-Ford-F1-1-2-Ton-Pickup-Truck-_1.jpg

 

[img]https://www.picclickimg.com/00/s/NzQ5WDk5OQ==/z/jQUAAOSwvjBbAzrZ/$/49-1949-Ford-F1-1-2-Ton-Pickup-Truck-_1.jpg [img]

tried to tweak Wayne's pic and now I can't delete this post???

 

FINALLY located the stamped production code on the '50 F1.
Does anyone know how to decipher it?

 

It's hard to see some of it, but it looks like LU for Louisville KY assembly plant, and code 3 black paint. The next part is harder and doesn't make sense from what I can tell. The date code should be one or two numbers and a letter. It looks like D7L. Can you look at that better for us, please? The remaining numbers are the rotation number, which is an internal tracking code for the factory. It means noting to us.

mtflat may come back with a better guess on the date code comparing his database with your serial number 360640 and others he has from Louisville. Tim?

 

D7L = 4th week (D) of November (L), 1947 (7). This would make it a 1948.

Or D7 = April 7, what the L refers to, I dunno.

A = January, M = December, the letter I is skipped.

 

Bill, we've already narrowed down the year to be 1950 by the serial number. Let's not confuse the guy with false speculation on the production code stamping with irrelevant guesses and saying it's something we know it's not. We have a database involving years of collection to help with accurate decoding. The prudent thing is to wait on better information, if it's available, on what the stamping actually says. It could also be a mistake by the stamper, while rare in the grand scheme of the number of units produced, is not unusual to find. Personally, I'd love to see and know much more of this truck.

 

That is the strangest stamping I've seen - maybe just the photo but it looks like it was back-stamped from the inside with reverse characters??

It is normal for a Lousiville stamp.
LU Louisville assembly plant
3 code for exterior color: Black
D7 is actually right for the serial number sequence in the data - April 7, 1950 and it appears right after a 5D from KC in the data bank. Louisville stamped the month/day in that order at that time unlike all the others that stamped day/month.
L10661 ?? I'm guessing here for most of this. Really indistinct in the photo. Make any corrections you can J Gosnell, please.

 

So not sure about the last 4 digits. It looks like either a G or an O then 33J? This is about all we can do without damaging the stamp.

LU 3 D7L1 .... Ok...so D7 is for April 7th. Any idea about the L1?

 

The numbers/letters following the date code is the production code, or rotation number. It was a number issued at the factory to track vehicles as they went through assembly, as they did not get built in the serial sequence. The number rotated as trucks went through the line, and there is no real correlation to the vehicle as we know it. It was strictly a tracking number. Here's a good explanation of the rotation number and how it worked. One of the best I've found. This may relate to Mustangs, but this is the way Ford did it for many, many years.

rotation number on build sheet

 

Thanks for all the help and input. I know a lot more now because of it.