Posted by Eric B. on Monday, November 22, 2004 at 10:47AM :
In Reply to: Some interesting info on my PW and questions... posted by Chris Lube Lublin on Monday, November 22, 2004 at 1:10AM :
Check out the registry display, you will see that the trucks are listed by year and serial number.
If you look at the serial numbers you will see that your truck would fall on the bottoom of the first page, below several trucks that are complete with beds.
The chances of your truck having the prototype bed and other pre production details are small, as so many trucks built before yours have the standard bed, etc.
Some of the early trucks have some very specific details, like two extra holes in the hood, etc that you may or may not have.
I have looked over many early trucks, and talked to the owners, all the trucks that had beds had the standard bed. The main difference was that some of them had the little extra piece at the cab side of the spare tire hole, and some did not.
I would check the VIN on your frame, and check colors all over your truck, as I doubt you will find the bed starting out with the same color as the cab.
Also look at the door tags, and see if there is any evidence of them being swapped at some point.
Most of the trucks I have seen with super early details, also had the door tags on the passenger side, I think by your serial number the tags are on the drivers side, and most of the early details are over.
I need to do a page on door handles, as there are also specific door handles, regulator handles, etc on very early trucks.
Once you hit about the 1,500-2,000 detroit built WDX, I think everything starts to become like the later trucks.
I know truck #83901424 had most of the early details, but I am not sure how far after that things became more in line with the B-1 trucks.
Also, many of the PWs I check have non original doors, and so be sure to check that when you check the door handle style, as that can fool you.
My guess is that if you look closely at all the details of your truck, you will find that like many other PWs it is a bunch of random parts used to keep the truck working, and careful research is needed to know what is original or not.
Glad to see you got it home!
Good luck!
Eric