Just got my "build sheet" letter from Ford Customer Service. Wondering if I could get a little help concerning a few of the options...

This vehicle was produced on 01/04/1979 with the following options:

• 133" Wheelbase
• Bright Yellow Exterior Paint Color
• Knit & Vinyl Bench Seats
• Black Interior Trim Color
• Full Air Brushed Stripe
• Ammeter
• Oil Gauges
• Sliding Rear Window
• C-6 Auto Transmission
• 2.75 Rear Axle Ratio
• Power Steering
• L78 X 15/C RWL Tires
• Sport Steering Wheel
• Dual Chrome Swinglock Low Mount 9x6 Mirrors
• Air Conditioner
• AM/FM Stereo
• Visibility Group
• Tinted Glass
• Box Rails
• White Styled Steel Wheels

1. What does this airbrushed stripe look like?
2. What do these exterior side-mirrors look like?
3. What is the "visibility group?"
4. Which trim level (Custom, Ranger, XLT, etc.) does this sound like? It makes no mention of side/wheel mouldings...does that mean Custom?

Thanks!

JJ

 

Look on your trucks Warranty Plate for the BODY code, post what it is. One of us will decode it for you.

The BODY code defines the type, color(s) and material of the seat, and what it models it was installed in (Custom, Explorer, Ranger, Ranger XLT, Lariat).
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Ford offered FIFTEEN different outside mirrors for 1973/79 F100/350's!

The type of mirrors you describe are shown and listed as TYPE 9 in the parts catalog. There were several different versions of these mirrors.
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There were all sorts, styles and dozens of different stripes offered on these trucks. Most were tape, very few were air-brushed.

Without seeing a picture, it is almost impossible to know what the stripe looked like.

In 1980, Ford put a TAPE (stripe) code on the Certification Label. Before that, it was a b!tch for Ford partsmen to figure out what stripes were used with what vehicle.
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Visibility Group: Courtesy Lights.

The reason side mouldings are not listed is, they came with certain packages.

What model is your truck, Custom, Ranger, Ranger XLT or Lariat?

Your best bet to figure out what the stripes were (good luck!) and to see the mirrors is get the parts catalog and/or an original sales brochure.

The 1973/79 Ford LIGHT Truck Parts Catalog is available on a CD from hipoparts.com for around $25.00.

faxonautolit.com has original sales brochures, owners and shop manuals and etc.

btw: The three spoke Sport steering wheel was also used (and is the same) as 1977/79: Thunderbirds, LTD II's, Ranchero's and Cougars.

The only diffference is...are the various center emblems, which are removable.

 

Aside from the warranty plate, I don't have much to go on from the truck itself. The POs changed the colors/mirrors/seats/emblems in the last 30 years. The glove box has the woodgrain panel with a RANGER emblem, and the cowl is sporting "F100 RANGER" emblems, even though it's a F150. Anyway, here's the warranty plate info:

F15HNEC3071
133 / 6 / F151 / DA4 / K / 13J
06150 / 1979 / 17

 

Sounds like the chromatic tape - typically known as a Free Wheeling truck.

The mirrors were squarish...kind of like the black ones, but chrome and metal. Not the stainless ones with four angles on the bottom on the back. I have the same mirrors on my '78 F150 Lariat.

 

F15 = F150 2WD Pickup

H = 351M 2V

N = Norfolk VA Assembly Plant

EC3071 = 1979

133" Wheelbase

6 = Bright Yellow

F151 = F150 2WD / 6,150 lbs. GVWR

DA4: DA = Black all Vinyl (Ranger XLT or Lariat) // 4 = Styleside Pickup, Bench Seat

K = C6 Cruise-O-Matic

13J: 13 = Ford 9" Rear Axle / 2.75-1 / non Limited Slip / 3750 lb. Rear Axle Capacity // J = Power Steering

6,150 lbs. Gross Vehicle Weight Rating

1979

17 = Washington D.C. Ford District Sales Zone Office, where the original selling dealer ordered the truck from.
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If you want more data/specs and etc. than you got from Ford, including a duplicate copy of your trucks original window sticker, contact martiauto.com.

Ford has NONE of this data any longer, including what they sent to you.

In the late 1980's, Ford was gonna throw all this jazz into the TRASH!

Kevin Marti, a Mustang nut from Phoenix AZ found out about this, and got ALL of it.

So...when Ford needs the data, they have to get it from Marti.

 

Were all trucks ordered in my area from the Norfolk plant? The '78 F150 Lariat's DSO - 17, but was built at the Jersey plant.

 

Thru 1980, the 5th digit of the VIN is the Assembly Plant code.

F15HNEC3071

N= Norfolk VA
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If the F150 had been assembled in Mahwah New Jersey, the 5th digit would be an E.

 

I am aware of that. My truck is "E" - Mahwah. His truck was from Norfolk. But we have the same DSO - 17. I want to find out if there were certain zoning boundaries between where the truck was ordered and assembled from.

 

Half-and-half, since you are between the two plants? Makes sense to me...

Most of the trucks north of Jersey were probably built there, while almost every junkyard truck I have looked at down here (11/13) had an "N" code.

 

Could be it. The northeastern trucks I've ran into were from either Oakville or Ontario plant.

Your area, however, probably used the Norfolk plant as the closet one because there wasn't a plant in the Southern states to produce dentsides.

I did thought of something interesting: every F100 I ran into was always from the Norfolk plant.

 

I want to say that the other two were "F" codes...I wrote the VIN #s down and looked them up a few months ago, but threw the paper away!

They were both 250s, and I thought I read something about a Kentucky plant, but I'm probably wrong because that was only for medium and heavy trucks, right?

 

Whoops...almost forgot!!!

 

No F code.

Kentucky had four, the most plants then assembling the 1973/79 trucks! One produced only the heavier trucks, correct.

List of plants for 1973/79:

B = Oakville, ON, Canada plant
C - Ontario, ON
E - Mahwah, NJ
H - Lorain, OH
I - Highland Park, KS
K - Kansas City, MO
L - Michigan Truck plant*
N - Norfolk, VA
P - Twin Cities, MN
R - San Jose, CA
S - Allen Park, MI
U - Louisville, KY
V - Kentucky Truck**

* - 1978/79 Broncos were assembled here, and only at this plant.

** Heavy truck plant only.

 

Roger that.

They were both "K" codes...that's what it was...Kansas City, MO. Different yards, but both 250s, both the same color scheme except one had a red front fender and a primered tailgate. One '77 and one '79.

That's why I made a mental note of it...sort of unusual compared to what I had seen up to then. Fleet auction maybe?