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Hello everyone,
I've recently taken ownership of my dad's old 1962 F-100 Unibody. Through the vin and data codes, I've come to learn the truck was made in Kansas City and is original. It has a 292 with a 2 barrel, 3 speed on the column with no overdrive. It has a 5000 lb load capacity with 2 sets of leaf springs under it and 3:70 gears in the rear end. The one part of the data code that has me stumped is the D.S.O. code. My code is 0385. I have no idea what that relates to. Can anyone impart some of their knowledge on this dilemma for me?
Sincerely,
Braidy Boen
Braidy: If your truck came out of the Kansas Assembly Plant, the Vin would start with F10CK. (F10= F100, C=292 2v, K= Kansas Assembly Plant.
Your Warranty Plate will have the DSO # located bottom RH, the first two characters should be the District Sales Office (aka DSO), any subsequent digits would be a special order number, meaning the truck was special ordered. you only mentioned 0385?? are there no other digits in front of that?
Have a look @ this link, it breaks down all the groupings on the Warranty Plate.....a pic of the Warranty plate is always helpful....
Hi James,
Thanks for your response and you are correct about the first part of the vin#. After that, its just the sequence number which I believe shows it was manufactured in October of 1961. The final line of the warranty plate shows the truck has a GVW of 5000 lbs. which is standard for an F100, 135 base horsepower at 3800 rpm, and a D.S.O. code of 0385. There is no other digits ahead of that, or after. Attached is a picture of the number. Let me know what your thoughts are.
Braidy
Braidy: hmmm, looks like whoever was stamping was having an off day?? I'm sure Chad or some of the others will be along, and have comments about other warranty plates with mis-stampings & other anomalies
In 1961 and some 1962 the DSO was typically just the Domestic Special Order (D.S.O.) 4 digits and didn't always include the District Sales Office (also D.S.O.) two digits in front.
Here's another example (no plate shown, just a transcribe) but if accurate, which I believe it is, then this is another 1962 with just a 4 digit DSO. It happened quite often, but not all the time.
@TA455HO,
Thanks for your time and response. Have you come across several 62's with 4 digit D.S.O. codes? Looking at my truck, I believe the only thing that would be out of the ordinary is the extra set of load springs underneath the rear end. The thing only has a passenger door keyed lock, one sun visor on the driver's side, no arm rests or radio. These are all (what I believe to be) common option features I have noticed on other trucks of the era. In the case of my truck, wouldn't this number still indicate who ordered it or where?
This is like being a novice archeologist.
Braidy
I keep a pretty good list of trucks and while I don't go overboard scouring Craigslist or eBay I do watch for any that show up here and a couple of other forums. So far I have 12 (not counting yours since I would need the full info) of the 1962 trucks with the 4 digit special order numbers. That's out of 47 of the 1962 trucks total in my list. So it was not uncommon to see a special order. Roughly 1/4 of the 1962 trucks I've documented. And while Marti Auto Works can whip out the invoice for most Ford vehicles 1967 - 2017 they don't have any special order information for prior years. Some of the older records were destroyed in a fire and some have been tossed out. So, to date at least, we have not been able to know what was special ordered on our trucks. I have both the build sheet and invoice for one of my trucks and it has a 4 digit special order number but it's still just a guess on my part as to what was special ordered. In my case I believe it was the tire combination.
I sure wish those records existed but so far no dice.
The warranty plate for my truck reads as follows:
F10CK22895
Based off the information I read from FORDification.info this code translates to: a F100 with a 292 and a 2 barrel carb. Its made in Kansas City and the assembly sequence is set somewhere around Oct, of 61.
122 JM F100 A 11
My understanding of this code is how it translates to a 122" wheelbase (which I believe an 8 ft. bed), J and M are paint codes for Rangoon red and Corinthian white. F100 equates to a 2 wheel drive 1/2 ton. A 3 speed manual transmission is designated by the A and a 3:70 gear ratio in the rear end is represented by the 11.
The final line reads:
G.V.W. B.H.P. R.P.M. D.S.O.
5000 135 3800 0385
I found registration slips in the glove box as far back as 1985 which all show the truck to be a Colorado vehicle. I also found lettering on the door which read: Chubbuck Motor Co. Ordway Co. This turned out to be a used car lot that has been in business since 1963. I contacted them, but they had no recollection of the truck, and didn't seem too interested in sharing any old memories.
I hope this information helps your data base.
Let me know if you have any other questions or comments.
Thanks for sharing,
Braidy
1948/62's do not have the first two digits of the DSO code listed. 1963 thru today: These codes refer to the specific FoMoCo district sales office where the dealer ordered the truck.
Hi Bill,
I appreciate your feedback. One of the things that baffles me about this truck is the fact it has a set of load leaf springs mounted above the larger, stock set. At this point, I'm under the impression this may be where my D.S.O. generated from since the truck is a half ton. However, since the G.V.W. rating on the warranty plate is still 5000 lbs., does this mean these trucks come that way typically?
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