Alternate Package Decoding
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More Turbo
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From: Anacortes
Alternate Package Decoding
Howdy All,
Banoness actually brought a good point I was wondering about earlier, I've read through some of the decoding forums and articles. If you have a truck that has any of the alternate packages or trim levels and it is not obvious is there a sure fire way to tell if the truck originally came with it or not? Like if your truck was a freewheeling truck and somebody repainted it too look normal or something along those lines.
For example my truck seems to have a lot of the camper special or explorer features like dual batteries, rear sway bar, extra leaf springs, clearance lights, trailer plugs, front hitch receiver, signs of two cb radios at some point. There are definitively clues but I can't be 100% now I guess. The hood ornament says Explorer and appears to be very old, the wood trim on the glove box says custom. The badges on the side are just normal F250 badges and there is no badging on the bed saying custom or explorer or signs there was ever badging 1978 F250. Its the same color orange as two other Explorers I have seen in real life just without the usual explorer stripe. I've seen models online without the stripe as well.
Maybe the original owner found an explorer hood emblem and added it later? Or maybe the second owner found the wood trim for the glove box and added it from another truck? Maybe the factory didn't put the extra badges on that Thursday?
I'm fairly confident the truck did not originally come with the wood grain trim option because it is a non AC truck but the dash wood trim has the AC vent so I doubt the glove box wood trim is original either and it didn't have the larger bezel trim surrounding the glove box, I added that last year.
Banoness actually brought a good point I was wondering about earlier, I've read through some of the decoding forums and articles. If you have a truck that has any of the alternate packages or trim levels and it is not obvious is there a sure fire way to tell if the truck originally came with it or not? Like if your truck was a freewheeling truck and somebody repainted it too look normal or something along those lines.
For example my truck seems to have a lot of the camper special or explorer features like dual batteries, rear sway bar, extra leaf springs, clearance lights, trailer plugs, front hitch receiver, signs of two cb radios at some point. There are definitively clues but I can't be 100% now I guess. The hood ornament says Explorer and appears to be very old, the wood trim on the glove box says custom. The badges on the side are just normal F250 badges and there is no badging on the bed saying custom or explorer or signs there was ever badging 1978 F250. Its the same color orange as two other Explorers I have seen in real life just without the usual explorer stripe. I've seen models online without the stripe as well.
Maybe the original owner found an explorer hood emblem and added it later? Or maybe the second owner found the wood trim for the glove box and added it from another truck? Maybe the factory didn't put the extra badges on that Thursday?
I'm fairly confident the truck did not originally come with the wood grain trim option because it is a non AC truck but the dash wood trim has the AC vent so I doubt the glove box wood trim is original either and it didn't have the larger bezel trim surrounding the glove box, I added that last year.
Lead Driver
Joined: Jul 2017
Posts: 9,601
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From: San Jose, CA
The single best way I know of to get the most information on a ‘68 through whatever Ford, is to get a Marti Report from Martiauto.com
You can get the most basic one for relatively cheap, which still gives you a pretty fair amount of information. All the way up to a super Duper deluxe framed version with lots of bells and whistles for over $300.
The basic one is definitely worth the money. And of course I went full boat on both of mine! :-)
A basic takes a few days and is probably e-mail only these days. A super deluxe will take at least three months.
You can get the most basic one for relatively cheap, which still gives you a pretty fair amount of information. All the way up to a super Duper deluxe framed version with lots of bells and whistles for over $300.
The basic one is definitely worth the money. And of course I went full boat on both of mine! :-)
A basic takes a few days and is probably e-mail only these days. A super deluxe will take at least three months.
Fleet Mechanic
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 1,509
Likes: 333
From: Arlington,Wa
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