Hey guys,
I'm a new member and just LOVE this forum. Recently bought a 1966 F100 Custom Cab longbed, six cylinder 240 cid, 3 speed manual (will soon post pictures). In researching the custom cab package, to hopefully restore/rebuild the truck to its original, I can't find what the "Custom Cab" designation stand fors. Also, my trim code is E81.

Can anyone help on both accounts?

Thanks!

 

Custom cab had the custom cab script on the door.
Other custom cab options you could get are :
Aluminum grille, chrome bumper, plastic dash w/ different gauges.
And the Aluminum side trim down the bed/cab/fenders
Im not sure what else was offered but I hope this helps

 

Chrome bumpers were an extra cost option. My CC has painted ones, and it's original.
There's been some argument that not all CC's had the side moldings, but all of them I've come across do.
The sweep speedo is the easiest way to tell. It's fairly easy to 'make' a CC truck if you get the parts.

 

Thanks for the feedback! Looks like my 1966 CC has everytthing except for the side moldings. If it had side moldings, wouldn't I expect to see holes in the body where the trim was pulled?

Also, what's a sweep speedo?

 

Sweep speedometer. It has a long needle that travels left to right rather than the standard circular speedometer.
If your truck has the sweep, it most likely is a custom cab but someone could have added it from a parts truck.
With these things being 37 to 42 years old, anything could happen.

 

Didn't 66 CC option also haveSoft Interior Door Trim Panels & Map Pockets, Interior Color variety & Color Coordinated Rubber Floor Mat w/ Jute backing pad, 2 Color ***** on dash Pulls, Switches & Window handles, Better Softer seat, 2 sunvisors.

If I'm not mistaken FoMoCo was offering "packages". Stuff like Safety Group, where you'd get 4 way hazard flashers, seat belts, & locking glove box, padded Dashboard w/brite trim or comfort & convenience group where you'd get Tinted glass w/ tint-banded W-Shield, Courtesy & Map lights, Glove Box light, Back up lamps etc.

I know Back up lamps were not integral with tail lamps prior to 65, although non B/U Light Tailamps are 64 - 66, while 61-63 are either Integral Bed or Style Side, Non Integral Bed, or flare side (stepside) but niether had B/U lamps.

65 was a year of "BIG Changes" @ FoMoCo. Engine Mounting & Engine types, Bell Housing Bolt patterns, suspension systems, Chassis, and a lot of stuff changed in P-Car & Truck Production lines/ models. It's when "Henry" integrated the Neutral Start & Back up light Switch with the Automatic Transmissions instead of Strg Cols & shift linkage.

Also wasn't brite work, like side trim, brite grille, headlamp doors, bumpers & wheel covers, brite mirrors & brackets, door handle finger nail guards an exterior Appearance Package as well as also being available piece-meal?

If I recollect correctly, the 65 & 66 Custom Cabs were the most Customized of all custom cab offerings before or since, and the Ranger Package Custom Cabs were awesome compared to even a "loaded" CC option.

I understood FoMoCo Marketing Division was into the process of "testing" how viable a "Plush F Series might be". They were amazed at how high end stuff sold, if & when "sales" bothered to mention Ranger or full pop CC Option when selling a 66 Effy, or even how well the 65 & 66 "full pop" custom cabs sold when they were mentioned.

Most dealerships got "set" in mentalities and resisted changes as they began to appear. FoMoCo dealers believed Trucks were for Working People, Farmers & Ranchers so plush was a non item.
Turns out working people, Farmers & Ranchers like "slick" stuff too and did not particularily want plain jane trucks in the F100 -150 category. . . . Look at what followed, Custom Cabs became Ranger Packages, XLTs, XLT Lariats, Eddie Bauer Editions and B4 we knew it "PLUSH" was in.

Just a casual, annecdotal, observation. I think/ believe the way to really discover exactly what was/ wasn't available is through a 1966 Light Duty Truck Master Sales Booklet. They were usually 15 or 20 pages of full color illustrations with option lists, specs, and so forth. "Sales Brochures" were less comprehensive/ complete - detailed than master booklets were. I'm reasonably sure they too contained a lot of useful info too. Fbp

 

FORDBOYpete - that is incredible. How do you know so much!

So then, we can be safe to say there was no one custom cab design. Pretty much up to the owner to add-on options. If I want to try and recreate the original appearance (...some day, right now the trucks gotta earn its keep and do some haulin') there's no one pattern. I can maintain a theme and still be true to the original appearance.

Maybe you know...my trim code is E81. Thought I saw something about this in the forum, but can't remember.

 

The '66 brochure says:
"Custom Cab features woven plastic seat fabric,full foam seat and cushioned back,vinyl paneled doors and smart interior trim, bright metal grille and windshield moldings."
I believe the door pockets were stand-alone options or part of the various camper special packages, as were the chrome bumper and body side moldings.
I think the custom cab has a perforated headliner, whereas the standard item is solid. (Or is that just true of the '65s?)
I have seen Custom Cab trucks without the side molding, but I've never seen a glove box lock. I'd like to have one.
Eric

 

The VIN tells all. Go here:
VIN decoder

 

The VIN decoder link is darn near describing my 1966 F100. I must be dense, because I still can't decode the body code of E81, even though it's provided as the example for the 1966 VIN!?

THANKS FOR ALL THE INPUT. YOU GUYS ROCK!

 

Isendel,

No not necessarily, different custom cab specifictaions. Custom Cabs were a basic "package" offered by FoMoCo. As 6t6merc so well pointed out, there's a "standard", Uniform, Custom Cab Pkg, as he described, from his "brochure".

What I'm saying is people added selective options and/ or Add Ons, to their "Custom Cabbed" truck. In those days we could just about build vehicles by selecting available options, accessoeries, & packages found in dealers' Master Sales Manual. This manual was accompanied by a "model specific" sales booklet, which I had mentioned earlier, & the Brochure 6t6merc is talking about. These last 2 items, Model Sales Booklet & Brochres were usually available in the show room, Master Sales Manual was not.

If one could get a salesperson to "work with them" one could go into the Master Sales book and explore what different divisions of FoMoCo had to offer. For example, the infamous 427 SOHC or 410hp, 427 Holman Moody Pushrod engine Fairlane Thunderbolt was not mentioned in any of the sales booklets or brochures, nor were the "PI" Options, or Taxi Options, yet all were covered in a Master Sales Manual for any given production year.

These "specialities" were in what has now become SVO Div. of FoMoCo. All special options could be found in SVO division text and literature. Accessing that literature/ text is what was tough without some way in through their door. . . .

Isendel,
As to why I'm aware of this stuff it's because I was there. I was doing that when it was happening in late 50's to early 70s'. I quit Dealerships while I was Ser Mgr, fall of 72, when dealer took the TOYOTA line on. I was killing my "wrenches" & tech crew because TOYOTA wanted special, 2/3's deal on labor. They'd only paid 2/3 of going rate for warranty. $480 /wk techs then got $320/ wk !!!

Big fight>> Guys quit left & right, It all went sour. I walked away from whole thing. I been a gearhead for ever & still am. But not at a dealership ever agian!
FBp