Here we go again with a newbie full of questions...

I have a 1965 F-100 with the following information on the door plate: WB = 129, Color = WM, Body = B81, Trans = A, Axle = 08, Max GVW lbs = 5000, Cert Net HP = 172, RPM = 4000, DSO = 361621, and a warranty #F10DL642953.

Can you tell me what this was originally?

Now for the "is it special?" background and questions.

 

KEEP IT!!
if it's not special to the rest of the world it's special to YOU!

 

Welcome to FTE

F10 = F100 2WD

D = 352 2V

L = Michigan Truck Assembly Plant

642953 = 1965, Assembled in January 1965.

129" Wheelbase

WM: W = Marlin Blue // M = Wimbledon White

F100 = F100 2WD // 5,000 lbs. GVWR

B81: B = Medium Blue Crush Vinyl & Medium Blue Ladder Pattern Woven Plastic // 81 = 81B Custom Cab.

A = Ford Type 3.03 3 Speed Manual all Syncromesh Transmission.

08 = Ford 9" Rear Axle / 3.50-1 / non Limited Slip / 3,300 lbs. Rear Axle Capacity.

5,000 lbs. Gross Vehicle Weight Rating

172 net HP @ 4,000 RPM

DSO 361621:

36 = Louisville KY Ford District Sales Zone Office, where the original selling dealer ordered the truck from.

1621 = Domestic Special Order number. The truck was ordered special by the original purchaser, not "bought off the lot."
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What is so special about it? There's no way to know, as all the records that pertain to special orders prior to 1967 have been lost.

It could have been a dealer modification. For all anyone knows today, the original purchaser might have been a mechanic or partsman that worked for a FoMoCo dealer and could have had access to a wrecked 1965 Galaxie Police Cruiser that would have had that Interceptor engine.

The Police Cruiser would have come with MX Cruise-O-Matic. The truck's 3 speed floor shift conversion was not done by FoMoCo, as no parts were available to do this. It was prolly done by the original owner.

You say your truck has the round speedometer. That is not how the truck came from Ford...unless it was special ordered that way.

ALL 1965 F100/250 2WD Custom Cabs and Rangers came with a plastic instrument cluster with a sweep speedometer, individual round gauges flanked it. Fuel Gauge on one side, Temperature Gauge on the other side.

Only Standard Cabs and 4WD Custom Cabs came with the round speedometer as original. The 4WD Custom Cab's instrument cluster is chrome. The Standard Cab's instrument cluster is stamped steel, and was painted white originally.

The Oil and Amp Gauges were optional on all these trucks, whether a Regular or Custom Cab, or Ranger...with one exception. F100/250 Camper Specials (all 2WD) came with Oil/Amp Gauges as part of the Camper Special package.

Is 68,047 the original miles...or not? The odometers of these trucks read to 99,999.9 then return to ZERO.

So...it could have 68,047 miles, or 168,047 miles, or 268,047 miles or?

Then there's this to consider. New/used car dealers (illegally) rolled back odometers on used cars/trucks for decades. So unless someone was the original owner, or had every service record on a vehicle since it was new...there's no way to know if the miles shown on the odometer are correct...or not.

There aren't too many people around today that bought their 1965 F100 brand new...and still own it today. Here on FTE, I only know of one person that meets this criteria.

 

Bill,

Thanks so much, a resource like you here is invaluable, and I do appreciate the time you spend on these questions.

The dash panel is silver with chrome bezels around the guages.

The control panel has 5 controls; lights, heater, fan, choke, lighter, (gotta love having a cigarette lighter that only the driver can get to) and a plugged hole on the right side closest to the steering column. What would have been in that place?

As far as mileage, I suppose it could have been rolled back, but it was driven only on the weekends after my grandfather bought it, and only on 1 trip over 100 miles then, and has very little wear on the arm rest and peddles. Is there any way to tell if it has the camper special package? It does have the custom cab emblems and correct interior per your info.

There are also what look sort of like ears that mirrors might have been attached to on the doors, it has long mirrors now, attached at the top and bottom of the door by the vent windows. Where these part of the camper special package, and if so, what were the other mounts for, or did Ford just leave them there instead of deleting them?

It still has the dealership emblem on the tailgate, Crown Ford Louisville. I haven't been able to find any info about them on the internet, so I guess they are long gone.

Thanks again,

Tom

 

Windshield wipers would be in the other hole in the dash but mine are in the second hole from the left, to the left of the steering column. I can attest that's where they were since the factory put them there. My father bought the truck new in '65 and i've owned it since 1973

 

The Deluxe Fresh Air heater has two additional ***** attached to cables under the dash, mounted onto a bracket-passenger side.

If your truck only has the heater/fan switch on the dash, it's the Economy recirculating heater. Both of these heaters were optional, none came with any package.

There is no way to tell if it's a Camper Special...or not from the VIN, or any codes on the Warranty Plate.

F100/250 Camper Specials had unique badging. Instead of where it says Twin-I-Beam on the front fender emblems, it says Camper Special there instead.

The Camper Special package came with equipment that was optional on other trucks. One way to tell if it's a Camper Special...or not if the badges are missing...is by the taillamp harness.

Camper Specials came with a pigtailed wire plug, that was used for the interior lights. It plugged into an extra plug in the taillamp harness.

Camper Specials also came with Oil and Amp gauges, but these gauges were optional on other models.

ALL the various outside mirrors were optional (with one exception *)...and none were factory installed...even if they were ordered. The dealers installed all the outside mirrors.

There is a black rubber plug on each door adjacent to the vent window. There were...at least...six different types of mirrors that their mounting bracket fit into the hole, once the plug was removed.

Inside the door are threaded holes that the bracket fit to.

My guess is...your truck had one of the several types of telescoping mirrors that the bracket fit into the mirror hole.

These mirrors had an additional "steady rest" bracket that attached to a bracket (ear) either on the door post, or on the door below and to the rear of the vent window's division bar.

* Only the Camper Specials came with the Western Mirrors as standard equipment you say your truck has now.

But...there were FOUR different types of these mirrors...and these mirrors were optional on other models.

The mirrors your truck has now, may not be genuine Ford, as similar types were available from aftermarket sellers.

I can tell by looking at the mirrors...if they are genuine Ford...or not. Post some pictures, because a picture says a thousand words.

The mirror info is confusing, ain't it! The 1964/72 Ford Truck Parts Catalog is available on a CD from hipoparts.com for around $22.00.

Once you have the parts catalog, you can see all the various outside mirrors and how they were installed.