Tell your stories about any of your cars that were mismatched/modified from the factory. Here's mine. I've had my truck for a year and been doin research on her. I found out that she was from Kansas City, MO and had the original engine. I looked at the VIN and noticed three VINs. The original VIN with the new one printed over it and the new printed underneath. My truck is from 1962 and looked at the original one as best i could. It's a 1962 F100 with a 1961 starter so i knew somethin was up. The VIN shows that i have a 1960 frame and the cab forward is 1962. The drivetrain i think is from 1961. I guess i can consider my truck to be a FrankenFord straight from the factory. That also explains why i can't lower my truck. my front axle is moved forward 5in from 1960. Ford should've learned that they shouldn't have made too many extra parts!
Unless you are the original owner or know them and know everything about it since new I would think lots of stuff could have been swapped out over the years due to wrecks, wear, or other problems.
True but, at the end of a run they were known to use anything available. Not anywhere near the regulations we have today.
the truck has a clean ***le and the only thing that is not original is the alternator and transmission. the engine is original and the VIN on the bottom matches the VIN on the truck. engine is the right engine, rearend is the right rearend.
My 58 ford has a 57 312 t-bird motor from the factory it was made in oct 57 i guess they just used up parts that were left
I had a '33 Ford tudor body many years ago with one ribbed wheel well ('34) and one non-ribbed one ('33). No sign of any patch work to indicate one had been swapped. A buddy of mine joked that it was the absolute last '33 to leave the Ford ***embly line..... probably made it worth millions...... yeah right.
I knew a bunch of guys that worked at the Ford plant in Canada. When one of them bought a new Ford, they went down the line and told everyone to watch for the build sheet with the secret mark on it. They got all top of the line equipment added at no extra cost. One got a 427 added in place of the small engine. Anything is possible.
If your truck only involved 2 model years, the factory-mixup story would be believeable. The third model year kinda shoots the theory all to hell. Clean ***le doesn't really mean anything on a 40 year old vehicle, and all kinds of things happen when trucks are new enough to have value when damaged. good luck with the project
friend of mine told me that his dad bought a brand new ford in 83 and it had a 64 galaxy six banger in it from the factory. my truck is almost all original but it hasn't been separated from the frame.
So how do you know your truck wasn't seperated from the frame in 66? How can you discern 34 years of crust from 40 years of crust? Like I said, when it was new enough to have significant value, all kinds of high-quality repairs or newer-part conversions do happen. As to the friend's 64 in an 83 story, somebody is just plain full of ****. Or knows so little about cars they misunderstood that the 83 straight six was the same engine family, not a 64 model year engine. Sorry to sound harsh.
As to the friend's 64 in an 83 story, somebody is just plain full of ****. Or knows so little about cars they misunderstood that the 83 straight six was the same engine family, not a 64 model year engine. Sorry to sound harsh. Big time full of ****.<!-- / message --><!-- sig -->
I once looked at a 57 F100 for sale that was actually the 56 body style. VIN on frame and cab matched the ***le. The build number was really low, I don't remember the specifics, but I went away believing that it was correct. It had to have been pretty rare.
The new cars were introduced before the model year. In other words, the "new" 58 Fords were introduced before Jan. 1, 1958. On top of that you have lead time to build the cars and even longer lead time for casting blocks. So 57 manufacture/casting dates are pretty common for 58 year model cars. I've seen some 348 Chevys with 57 casting dates and the engines weren't introduced until the 58 year model. Larry T
While attending university I worked part-time at the Chrysler van plant in Windsor. There was a van moving through the line that was ordered by a plant worker. It had a few extra perks including doubling up all the spot welds. The only problem was, there was virtually no flex in the body and it road like a buck wagon. I have a Magnum wagon--one of the best cars I have ever owned in the past 35 years by the way---but the driver's door panel is a different color than all of the others. I wonder if this feature will make it a collector's dream?
I have this story secondhand, so I don't really know it's true. I trust the source, though, as he was a tech in a Chrysler/Plymouth dealership circa 1974. Cars were being thrown at dealerships about halfway done, and left for the technicians to finish, the way he tells it. One day a recently sold Duster came into the service department. The complaint on the ticket was "brakes pulling to one side". With the car in the air, it was pretty obvious what the problem was. It was one of those "HEY GUYS, COME LOOK AT THIS THING" moments that tend to stay with you for years after, whenever the ***embly line stories begin. The car was built with a drum brake on one side and disc brake on the other. They called the customer and gave him his choice, then ordered the parts and redid the braking system. This is Paul Harvey....
Not major but my '97 Ford F-150 had the rear shocks put on with metric hardware on one side and SAE on the other side.
Oh yeah, I can see this happening. One day a line foreman says, "Ya' know, this engine's been sittin' here for 19 years and I'm tired of trippin' over it. Go ahead and stick it in the next truck comin' down the line."
i have everything of what has been replaced on the truck. the frame is the frame the truck came out with.
The last Chevrolet dealership my Dad worked at had a new pickup come off the transport, the tech was doing the PDI on it and noticed it had GMC trim on one side of the truck.
I've heard of two instances of Chrysler products being messed up at the factory. 1.) I bought a '70 Dodge Coronet off the original owner. He had it for a couple of weeks and went back to the dealer complaining about milage. Turns out it had some ridiculously low geared rear put in it at the factory. They swapped it out for the 3.23. I was kinda pissed he didn't keep the first one . 2.) Heard a story about a Dodge Dart making it all the way to the dealership in the early seventies with the Dodge Dart emblems on one side, and Plymouth Scamp emblems on the other side.
Dad and Grandfather both bought 1973 Malibu 4-drs brand new. Grandfather took one off the lot. Shortly after, My Dad went to order his so he could get colors and options he wanted. My Grandfathers car had some kind of more upscale upholstry with nice grade perforated vinyl. Maybe from a Laguna, or Pontiac, or something? Anyway... when my Dad tried to order this interior, he was told it was absolutely not available in a Malibu. Also, GM interior suppliers went on strike in '68, and some '68 Chevelles shipped with '68 Skylark interiors.
Hey H30, do you have any more pictures of your truck. My family had a 59 Ford about half of my life. I couldn't believe they sold it. What's different about the bed on yours? Is it a short bed, I can't tell from your avatar. Thanks Josh.
Although my 29 Reo Flying Cloud sedan isnt hamb material, it fits this question. REO like other makers routinely would take leftover models and re***le them for the next year. My car is most definatly like all the 28's I see as far as front sheetmetal and other appointments but has always been ***led as a 29. I have talked to other club members and find many with the same story. The factory would sometimes change little things like painted light buckets instead of chrome, so when the unsold car would come back, even from a dealer, they would change a few things and send it back out with a new ***le. If they did it, I would not be suprised if Ford or other makers would do the same thing. Also remember that most manufactures in those days would come up with a better or cheaper way of doing things and impliment that at once instead of waiting until model change so many wierd things can happen.
My parents had purchased a new Jeep wrangler in the mid 90's. My dad was out with it on the road in front of our house and decided to try out the shift on the fly 4x4. When he put it in at about 30 mph, it locked up tight and he said if he did not have his belt on, he would have went right out the windsheild. Turns out they had different gears in the front and rear. Took it in and they swapped the fronts to match the rear, then called back a week later and told him that the front was correct and needed to change both the front and the rear to the correct ratio. The pumpkin on the rear seal never stopped leaking after that.
I was walking by a stock restored Model A at a car show and did a double take when i read the sign in front of the car. It said "1927 Model A" so i stopped to talk to the guy. He was and older fellow and seemed to know his stuff, so I asked bout the year of the car. He said it was a '27 and had that year on the ***le and said it was correct. i didn't argue with him 'cuz I'm no expert on model A's......
I had a 67 Plymouth Baracuda I bought new in 1969 from a dealer. It was a 273 S model but had W2 heads, Holly $ barrel, dual point -dual coil distributor, Heavy duty transmission and a very large diameter exaust system for the day. It also had about 500 miles on the odometer when I bought it. Looking at pictures from the 1967 Press on regardless rally in Michigan , the sweep car look a lot like mine even the ucky cream color, or possibly it was a mule car the sent out to a small town dealer to get rid of it. Any way I like a dumb kid that I was drove it for 2 years and then sold it to a freind of mine whe trashed it. It was alway a challenge to buy tune up parts for it. jim h post note that car got me a secend place finish in the VWCA national rally series two year in a row.
I had a '75 Chevy Monza with a 350. However, the badging indicated a 262 V8. I bought the car from a Chevy Dealer.
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