Pete it looks like the late 50 frame and cab were the starting point. 52 front end and box/fenders added. Your's is not the only one.

My 48 started out looking like this when I brought it home. I also left the original firewall tag but pinned a new one beside it and stamped the original serial number on the repro tag.



This is what it became - could only find F3 front fenders.

 

I haven't re-read the 22 pages here, so this is really a question for the folks who are compiling it and maintaining the data (texan, etc)....
I first saw this page:
1949 - 1951 Ford Truck US Canad
yesterday and looked at a couple of firewall stampings that the owner suggests they know it was originally a stakebed, or originally a bus... That last portion of the firewall stamping, the part nobody has a good decode for yet, is it possible that it contains the body code in some way shape or form?
Mine (1948 stakebed) has only a 6 - nothing else, and the 1949 body code for stakebed is 86... could it be that Ford added used 0-6 and included it in the "production sequence" somewhere in 1948, and then from 49 on used 80-86? What does the data show - is it in there somewhere?

 

Can I get a copy of this spread sheet? I started to copy each one. But wanted to see what you've come up with...

 

According to the vin decoder on this site I have a 1949 but wanted to confirm with the guys that know. I honestly thought I had an early 1950 (April -May??) ( but now not sure) the truck had the 51 52 style magic air heater in it and had the painted date of 1950 on the backside, I forget which month. Ill have to go look again.

vin # *98 RD*473881* F2

raised bedpanels, Pretty sure original.
small back window,

Need to look on the firewall again for any stamping.

thanks guys.

 

You have a rather late 1950. I would be real interested to know what onth it was built if oyu get those firewall stampings.

 

fire wall stamping CHH 22L 144 B . so looks like nov 22 1950

 

The VIN decoder is a waste of time on the early F series trucks, that's why it shows it as a '49

With Carl, I'm curious about the firewall as it sits among a bunch of "J" (sept) build dates.

Thanks Josh,
Tim

 

Ok, here's the firewall stamping

M KC 18J130 *** the three could have been something else?? was not stamped real well.

The truck also had a 4 speed floor shift crash box.

the bed had the original wood floor and when I touched it the wood started to fall apart.
I purchased it as a parts truck from the son of the original owner, Truck was from Denver. Unfortunatly the thing had been cut in half and then a big tree branch fell on the cab.

thanks

Josh

 

M KC 18J130

M - Meadow green
KC - Kansas City
18J - 18th September
130 - vehicle down the line

Is this close? Poor truck, it's had a hard life.....

 

As I clean off layers of rust and grime I'm finding more numbers. Attached is a picture of the firewall stamping as clear as I can get it for now (it is a long reach over those fat fenders). It looks like some of the letters were stamped backwards. Can someone help me with decoding this?

1 - First character looks like a sideways A
2 - 9
3 - F
4 - 5
5 - backwards K
6 - 5
7 - backwards 3
8 - 1
9 - 6
10 - 1
11 - 1

The firewall is dented pretty well behind these. The number dies must have been worn so maybe this was from a plant that produced a lot of trucks? I also notice that the font style from plant to plant seems to be distinctive?

 

Thanks for posting the picture. Looks can be deceiving, and looking at it closely and checking the possibilities I make it to be:

? SP 5K 531 611

Lousy stamping job and hard to read - somebody was eager to get started on their weekend or having an awful Monday : )

? is color - should be a letter in 1950 at St Paul - hopefully Carl can help with this
In 50 Birch, Dover and Silvertone gray was available - any ideas?
It looks like A, but that was Black. It could be a 4 but that was birch gray and by 50 SP was using letters????

SP is Saint Paul assembly plant

5th October 1950 assembly

531 611 code for vehicle down the line

 

Thanks MT. You are right. That makes more sense. The original color of the truck is a light green (Sea Island Green?) Whatever that code is.

Should there be any relationship between the last six numbers and the last six of the engine number?

 

"The original color of the truck is a light green (Sea Island Green?) Whatever that code is.

Should there be any relationship between the last six numbers and the last six of the engine number?"

Definitely interesting - Sea Island green should be code G, but I can't make that prefix look like a G.
And no, there is no relationship between the serial number and the last numbers of the build code. They're more like DSO codes as ordered by dealer or district. Unknown what they mean and its possible each plant used their own codes for these.

 

I have some other pictures that I took of this but no matter which one I look at or how I adjust them with Photoshop filters I do not make the first character out to be a "G" either. It almost looks like a double strike with the original "A" sideways then a second try with it right side up? And whoever did it may have been left handed as the impressions on some of the letters are sharper on the left side like they held the die with their right hand and swung a hammer with the left hand?

I thought that I read somewhere that Ford changed Sea Mist Green late in 1950? As this is an Oct. 1950 build (which corresponds to the late engine number of 480988) could this have been in that group? I'll have to see if I can find that post.

EDIT: Yes, here is the post from harleymsn from almost a year ago https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1035682-since-u-got-it.html#post9908699. It looks the same to me. Attached is a picture of my dash in the sunlight and compare that to Joe's album pictures (https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/garage/1950-Ford-F5%20Stake%20truck-4406-harleymsn.html). What do you think? Do you know the code for Palisade green?

Thanks for the help MT.

 

I was convinced the first mark was "4" or "A" but no paint codes match that. I certainly won't argue with your theory of a left-handed guy. That makes sense to me

I'm not a paint expert and my resource isn't always reliable, but it looks like Ford was messing around with colors during this time period. This info stands to be corrected:

50 shows Palisade Green (no code or perhaps H);
51 shows Sea Island Green (G);
52 shows Glenmist Green (G);
53 shows Seafoam Green (G);
54 shows Sea Haze Green (H)

Then from our collected data, SP used numbers for paint codes until mid 50 (the way it looks), then dropped the code or went with Letters like other assembly plants that year.
Tim