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Welcome to FTE, so here we go. You want the factory colors or the colors it has been repainted? Might reach out to who ever paint it last to get the color codes.
1. VIN will NOT be on glove box or the dvr dash up by the windshield.
2. Your 1st pic is a "buck tag" from under the hood/on the cowl, it sort of has some of the vin, but what is there is used by the assembly line guys to know what to add to the truck, AFAIK the rest of the info can not be decoded.
3. Look at the dvrs side door edge for a riveted on "Warranty plate" with the vin. Is it even there? It will look like the 1st pic I posted.
4. That white "Safety Certification" sticker (2nd pic I posted) on the dvr side B pillar has had the VIN cut off the bottom part. Something fishy is going on. And the over spray shows it has been repainted. Also shows that cab at least is a Aug 1977 build date. You say the truck is a 78. Ok so late year 77 they could of called it a 78 on the title.
5. Did you locate the VIN on the frame (2 places) to match the paper title?
6. In the engine compartment above the buck tag, there is a bit of white that the over spray missed. I bet that truck had a white cab on it.
Yes the warranty tag is gone, the vin on the buck tag and very top of the safety tag match but I do need to check the frame. Unfortunately the vin did not match the title, so now trying to figure this all out. That wasn’t discovered until applying for insurance! Lesson learned!!!! Not sure how previous owner had it insured but it was. Inside the windows do have some white paint as well so I’m thinking that some shade of white was original.
according to the PO, the PO had repainted the silver and the red color was original.
thanks for the help
Well NO warranty tag on the door...maybe it was taken off to hide that fact it is a Frankenstein truck or worse. Ok so maybe the dvr door got swapped and the warranty plate did not, it happens.
But that purposely cut off white sticker...IMO that is a very bad sign. Like something's trying to be hidden. And the fact that the 2 vins you do have match, but do not match the paper title vin, even more sign of a BAD DEAL.
I would get to checking the frame vin ASAP and then consider the fact you might want or need to get the law involved, worse case you bought a stolen truck. You probably just bought a Frankenstein truck put together with parts. Or maybe they grabbed the wrong title. Buck tag is not normally considered to be a lawful form of vin verification AFAIK.
Did you buy it off FB MP or Craigslist? Still have the guys name, number and address? Might be helpful to have. You might reach out to the guy and ask him what the deal is. Maybe the frame vin will match the paper title. Then you just buy some Marti Auto repop warranty plate and white sticker and all will be ok. Good luck with all that.
Yes I have all the guys info license, phone #, address etc….. I will reach out to him today.
I had both vins run and they both clean. I don’t think it’s a shady situation but you never know anymore. When I get off today I’ll definitely check the frame before I go any further.
You don't yet know what truck you bought, until you know the vin on the title matches the frame number. Looks to me like someone sliced and scraped away the lower portion of the safety cert sticker that would have had the vin, likely why the aluminum riveted warranty tag is gone from the door too. Hopefully the title matches the frame number but if not, might be .... "not so good".
Colors .... maybe this helps. Mine is a '77 but I marked it's original colors, might be same?
Be interesting to know how you got both vins "run", so to speak. I sure hope the frame vin matches the paper title and then you just get some reopp tags and life is good. Cool deal for the son to get a F250 with fresh paint to drive. If the paper title vin does NOT match the frame vin or the easy to access frame vin is ground off, that would be a giant RED flag.
Also remember that the vin has only 11 characters. It is not a 17 or 18 characters like todays vehicles. Sometimes that short of a vin throws off a insurance person when they go typing it in the system. Some vin decoder programs can not run a vin so short.
As for the colors listed on the buck tag, 9A is Wimbledon White (M) and 2E is Candyapple Red (T). 9A and 2E are updated codes. The truck may have been wrecked and used parts used to rebuild it. The title should match the frame number. If you want to know more about the trucks, the donor and the existing, you can contact Kevin Marti at https://www.martiauto.com/ He's got all the old Ford records and will sell you a detailed report from your vins.
