Posted by Eric B. on Saturday, February 11, 2006 at 10:16PM :
In Reply to: VIN number help posted by Ray on Saturday, February 11, 2006 at 3:40PM :
I am lost, all the books I have claim the 1970-75 VIN numbers should be 13 characters long, yours is 10.
From 1960 to 1969 the VIN numbers started with a number, 1970 was the first year for a letter to be the first character since 1959.
For the picture of your truck it is obvious you have a 65 or later LCF, and I would guess you have a 70-75 LCF.
Your VIN number does not match any of the books I have (and I have LOTS).
Look here to see scans of the parts books I am working from:
http://t137.com/registry/help/partspages/index.htm
You can see that none of the numbers you have work out in those books as anything, as you do not have enough characters, When I work out the begining of your VIN anyway, I get a Weird answer for a motor home.
All the parts books claim M is motor home, and only 72-73 uses just M. Earlier and later trucks are things like M3, etc.
I went to my service manuals, because sometimes I can find clues there, and in my 1970-74 500-1000 service manuals I found some C series trucks with a VIN starting with M.
But still none of your numbers make sense, your sequential numbers are not long enough, everything is M8 or something, not just M, there is no M0, and the next digit after M8 etc should be a 1 2 or 3 for the body type, not 0. The weight class does not match anything, you have an A, and ALL the options in the 500-1000 books are things like F G and H. The engine code does not work either, as the engine code for a 6-71N Detroit is a Q. Even if you have some other engine, the special diesel motor letter is Z.
The only letter to match up is the J for Canadian built.
Your tag has the layout of a 70-71 tag, the 72 and later tags have much less info on them.
If they swapped tags for the whole range at the same time, then the best info I can give you after going through all my books is that you have a 70-71 truck built in Canada based on the J letter, and the tag style. The rest of your VIN has me stumped at the moment.
Anyone else have any ideas?
Eric
Follow Ups: