help with year ID

[taRedHood]

Good Morning . . .

Just picked up a '71 F-250 Highboy Flatbed to partner with my '72 Flatbed! I need some help though . . .
I just looked through the 'Tech/Tutorial' identification section, and my doors and interior seem to differ with the photos there. Probably common, but here's two items:

Doors: You can see by this photo that I have the small armrest, with lever for door locking (no plunger by the window). The data on this site shows that to be a '67 only thing. . . as does LMC's catalog. However, the VIN tag on the door indicates a manufacture date of sometime in 1970. Perhaps someone changed out the doors and too the time to transfer the VIN tag?


Heater Controls and Radio: These too look to be from '67?? Small am radio, and three independent knobs for heater control.


Thanks for any help you can offer. All opinions welcome!
. . . because I know how much you all love photos: Here's one of the whole truck:


Tom

[chad67]

The dash and doors are both '67 items. Someone may have changed your VIN plates to match a title that they had.

[Calfdemon]

Definitely a 67 cab and doors. It was common (and still is) to switch the door tag to match the registered VIN when swapping out body parts. You should check the VIN on the frame and see what it is. If the VIN on the frame matches what you currently have on the door, then someone switched the cab and doors. If the VIN on the frame is a 67 VIN, then you have a 67 and someone just registered it with a door tag from another truck.

[taRedHood]

I guess I'm thinking that someone registered it with a different tag. Even the hood appears to be a '67 with the missing hole on the underside, and the F O R D letters with the little horizontal ribs across. I can't quite see/find the frame VIN. I'll look a little closer tonight with better light and a wire brush.
I guess it's fitting anyhow that it be a '67 . . . same year I was built. My wife's late grandfather was a super great guy and he had a 1919 Model T he always drove around with a sign on the side that said: "Truck and Driver built Same Year'.

[Calfdemon]

Look here for the location of the frame VINs: http://www.fordification.com/tech/vin_find.htm

[taRedHood]

Alright . . .it's official. Here's what I have going on:
I crawled under the truck last night with headlamp, mirror and sandpaper and found the VIN on the top of the right frame rail. It matches the VIN on the door tag . . . 1971 model. The cab is clearly '67 (which I prefer as I was built that same year). But the grill is a '71, probably taken from the original cab that was apparently replaced. What's cool is that the color of the '67 replacement cab is the same blue as the callout on the '71 VIN tag. Clever.

Thanks for all the help . . .

Now, I just need to find a '68 grill as I love the style and the red 'Ranger' logo in the center.