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The 1962 Ford F100 came with some unanswered questions like why was the front end of in the bed? Why did they shove thick exhaust stacks through the bed posts? The serial number now confuses me the most. Firstly it's a 3 on the tree 292 2 barrel, and there's 2 speedometers one cut off on tranny and one hanging there. I read it as F10DP310350, and D is the HD 292 4 barrel. For tranny and axle it reads 20G then B (20? Really lost), that G I only see for the HD Cruise-O-Matic. P = St. Paul and DMO= 44 St. Paul (maybe? unsure going of 63 info), B = Caribbean turquoise which it is. 310350 = July 1962 so late.
So yeah let me know what you guys think, messed up vin plate or something else. No way they swapped in a 3 on the tree.
Interesting. I think the fact that it is a special order has created a lot of these oddities but I don't have many good answers for you.. One thing is that the "B" trans code is a 3 Spd Overdrive and possibly the axle field is blank? I have no idea about the 20G. My "G" code 62 trans was swapped (before my ownership) to a 4 Spd so possible yours was swapped. ? Odd for sure. Im sure someone will have better info.
If it was a D code engine, then the horsepower rating wouldn't be 135 but would be 153. Tag is messed up somewhat. More common at the lesser volume assembly plants like St. Paul, Lorrain Ohio, etc. -
I just find it funny how a truck with only options of the 292 v8 and 8 ft bed with zero chrome and not even door locks got an interesting serial number saying it's something special. Anyways that's the summer project that I'm pursuing, runs very good no weird noises. I just need to wrap up fuel (gas tank new, line clogged somewhere), cooling (getting water pump, rad inspected after), now I can run it for more than 20s, brakes (have front conversion kit but checking rear drums first) and then finually I can try and put the front end back on to test drive after checking the 80-90w gear oils.
The person or persons that were responsible for making the tags had to set up for each one in succession. Could have been the normal guy took a 15-minute break, and some newbie stepped in to make them and didn't get this one changed properly from the prior warranty plate before setting this one in stone. Considering it is clear mistakes were made on your tag there isn't much of a selling point there as far as I know. Might be your truck wasn't even a special order like the 6-digit DSO implies as that could also be part of the mistake.
Axle code B indicates either a Spicer driving front axle or a Timken rear axle. Neither of those would make sense for an F100. But a Timken was common in bigger trucks where you would have more commonly seen a 292 HD 4V.
The 20 in the transmission code makes no sense to me but a code G was a Fuller transmission in 1962. Again, not something you'd see in an F100 not even as a special-order item.
20G reads like a date code. Car tags, and earlier truck tags, had date codes, so maybe whoever was running the stamp machine mistakenly punched in a date code, 20 July, since you said it was a July build? It is the spot where a date code would have gone. Trans B is 3 speed overdrive. Perhaps one of the speedo cables is really an overdrive cable?
