Slick 60's

With the help of James (jamesdfo), I've been compiling some truck data that might be helpful for anyone trying to decode their Canadian VIN tags, which differ greatly from the U.S. VIN. So far we have info for 1961 and 1964, so I figured I'd post it here.

I'll be doing a post for each year, and adding to it as more information becomes available.

Here's the first page from the 1961 Ford and Mercury shop manual:

Pages 1 & 2 of the 1964 shop manual deal specifically with the Canadian-built trucks:





For reference, here are pages 3 & 4, which deal with the U.S.-built trucks:

After looking into it further, I believe the 1962 trucks simply used an engine code of P with no prefix for the 223 6, as my truck lists "P-3L/D", denoting the 223 with light-duty 3-speed. I recently ran across an image of a 1963 VIN where the engine code prefix appeared to either an O or a Q. Still need to confirm that though.

So as an example, I believe 61-64 trucks with the 223 six would have the following engine codes:

1961: NP
1962: P
1963: QP
1964: RP

Which makes sense if O and P were skipped in the sequence.

My 62 also has a P. It reads P-4,SPD. I've got a 63 parts truck and will look that one up tomorrow.

^Awesome, James also has a lead on a 62-63 shop manual supplement so we should have 61-64 covered before too long.

Morning Milo do you happen to have any information on the trim and color codes?

^Is that question for me? If so, I don't have any info on trim and colour codes at this time. I do know the Canadian codes are different, but my 1961 manual only lists U.S. colours. My truck's plate lists "RW" to indicate red/white two-tone, for instance.

Here's the latest addition, courtesy of James who located the 1962-63 shop manual supplement for me.





These pages don't indicate a prefix for engine code, but I've personally seen a few 1963 trucks with the Q prefix. Based on that I'm reasonably sure that 1962 was the only year where the engine code was a single character.

Guys there is somewhere in netdom a Canadian Ford/Merc truck colour chart, I saw it years and years ago, I believe my colour scheme is coded UH and my truck was originally skylight blue and wimbledon white.

This car colour chart from then comes close but no cigar, but it's the best I can find right now.

http://www.mercurystuff.com/pdfs/1964-C ... cation.pdf