Questions about how true to the spid a truck is

[jcblue]

I know the title sounds confusing.. So here is my confusion. I have a 72 swb and so does a friend.. Both are seemingly original.. My friends is a medium red.. And mine is the orche/white.. I will post pics of both spids.. The red spid says Cheyenne super equipment but no super badge or wood grain on dash. It also has a tach but is not mentioned on the spid.. It is a 402/400 truck that was bought local here where I'm from so the history of its originality is known.. Was it common to leave those options off and still be a super.? My truck (orche) has a tach and tilt and super badges but are not listed on the spid.. Also, the spid on orche truck has 6 digit option codes and the red has 3 digit codes.. I'm just curious about these trucks and what they really are

[jcblue]

Ned red spid

[jcblue]

Orche spid

[jcblue]

More pics

[jcblue]

Orche pics

[Already Gone]

Maybe someone's can give more detail on why. For starters the red truck is a Canadian built ( Oshawa , Ontario ) truck for the US market. The Ochre /White truck was built at the St. Louis Missouri plant. I do know that not all the plants did the spids the same way.

[jcblue]

Interesting.. Thank you. Anyone else have anymore info?

[LockDoc]

flip.

[68bowtie]

i'm not as knowledgeable as some on this forum, but in my experience the spids are fairly accurate. mistakes happen, so you never know, but if i had to bet money i would guess changes were made after they were new. i might be more inclined to believe it if only one part was in error. do you happen to have the build sheets inside the seats?

[jcblue]

I do not have the build sheet on mine (orche) but the original owners daughter thought she may have build sheet and protectoplate for the big block truck.

[mike16]

Spids are fairly accurate for the most part. However there are enough with errors that its not unusual. Now that trucks have begun to really increase in value we must be diligent against any body who might misrepresent facts or condition when compared to the spid, especially if the issues also involves an option that increases the value. Alternately I would never relinquish control over the fate of my trucks spid to some naybobs or guru's who claim to be the do all end all arbiter in issues of accuracy and correctness. Do your own work to determine and ensure accuracy.always remember that either as a seller or a buyer. SPIDs can be inaccurate, Not wrong just inaccurate.

vendors are sellin blank spids and can replicate a spid to show options other than origonal

[jcblue]

Very true MIKE16.. As far as the red truck goes, I do believe it to be original.. Spid says super but just has cheyanne equipment..

[special-K]

SPIDs are accurate when it comes to what options the truck had from the factory. Both trucks are Cheyennes. It's the RPO that you go by and Cheyenne is Z84 while Cheyenne Super is YE9. I've seen Cheyenne listed on the SPID with YE9 and all the Cheyenne Super stuff. Same thing with GMCs, they use the same two codes for Sierra and Sierra Grande. The descriptions weren't always accurate, but the codes are. If a tach isn't listed, then it was added. Never seen an option missed. Plant to plant the descriptions varied, as well as number of digits in the RPO. It's the letter and two numbers that follow that matter. People have been adding goodie to these trucks to upgrade them since day 1. And as far as for resale to make it appear as a truck with more options than it originally had, a base truck turned into a Cheyenne Super, etc., that has been going on for 25-30 years. I saw Cheyenne Super big blocks going for $10-15k back then and I also saw blank SPIDs sold back in the late-80s. Nothing new about these trucks being a sought after thing of value, just new to a whole lot more people.

[jcblue]

Wonder why one spid has 6 digit codes and the other has 3 digit codes?

[jcblue]

Thank you special k. I was hoping you would chime in..

[special-K]

There are better experts on this technical stuff. I never got why the extra digits, either. One plant did it one way and others did it another, but all I see anywhere else are the letter with two numbers.

[Grumpy old man]

On my farm truck build the spid will be reproduced to show the "current" options , Posi ,292 ,paint color, interior color ,radio etc,etc. It will be noted in some way that it's not the "original spid"

[special-K]

Same here and I wish everyone had that scruple. In '90 I was at Carlisle where I saw a seller with a pair of B-E-A-UTIFUL restored to original big block Cheyenne Supers, one solid black and one solid white. They were about identical except for color. I was floored that one guy got his hands on such a pair. Then I'm buying a chrome glovebox door w/woodgrain from Cheyenne Superman. I mention it will look great, but a shame I lose the SPID that shws the originality of the truck. That's when he pulls a blank SPID out from under the table and instructs me on what type print to use to make it look authentic. That is when it hit me that one day it will be hard to know what is really what. A mint restored truck from 25-30 years ago can look like it's the way it left the factory by age. "Everything appeared original to the truck", is how we assume it's unaltered.

[dazza]

Well then, seems it may be time to investigate and find out the manufacturer(s) of the paper stock GM used for the SPIDs. Disecting them for paper fibers and weight as well as ink type and age could be lucrative!, not to mention the title... DAZZA, P.S.I. (private spid investigator). I've always wanted to be a detective. Ehhh, maybe in like five years when our trucks are coming in at 100k+ at the auctions.

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by jcblue

Wonder why one spid has 6 digit codes and the other has 3 digit codes?

The added three characters provide additional detail to the RPO, but not down to the part number level of detail. An engine RPO might have clutch information (HD vs LD) added as a suffix, for example.

They fell into disuse in later years; by the squarebody era they were either replaced with dummy placeholder characters (ie, "AA" or all "1"s) or left off altogether, with only the three character RPO remaining, depending on the vintage of that particular final assembly location's equipment.

As Special K mentioned, there is some variation between plants and model years. The RPO content will be standardized but the noun names can vary (like Chevrolet naming convention on a GMC truck, or an informal naming convention for that RPO).

K

[Grumpy old man]

Originally Posted by special-K

Same here and I wish everyone had that scruple. In '90 I was at Carlisle where I saw a seller with a pair of B-E-A-UTIFUL restored to original big block Cheyenne Supers, one solid black and one solid white. They were about identical except for color. I was floored that one guy got his hands on such a pair. Then I'm buying a chrome glovebox door w/woodgrain from Cheyenne Superman. I mention it will look great, but a shame I lose the SPID that shws the originality of the truck. That's when he pulls a blank SPID out from under the table and instructs me on what type print to use to make it look authentic. That is when it hit me that one day it will be hard to know what is really what. A mint restored truck from 25-30 years ago can look like it's the way it left the factory by age. "Everything appeared original to the truck", is how we assume it's unaltered.

How many times do you see a for sale ad read " numbers matching engine " or CS147 original big block ?

[SS Tim]

Originally Posted by jcblue

I know the title sounds confusing.. So here is my confusion. I have a 72 swb and so does a friend.. Both are seemingly original.. My friends is a medium red.. And mine is the orche/white.. I will post pics of both spids.. The red spid says Cheyenne super equipment but no super badge or wood grain on dash. It also has a tach but is not mentioned on the spid.. It is a 402/400 truck that was bought local here where I'm from so the history of its originality is known.. Was it common to leave those options off and still be a super.? My truck (orche) has a tach and tilt and super badges but are not listed on the spid.. Also, the spid on orche truck has 6 digit option codes and the red has 3 digit codes.. I'm just curious about these trucks and what they really are

From the provided pictures both trucks were originally built as Z84 Cheyennes.

The Red truck, having been assembled in Oshawa, displays the typical format for that plant and the misleading description for Z84 Cheyenne. Being a Cheyenne it is correct without the Super's added woodgrain. Other than the incorrect seat cover (no factory black houndstooth) the interior looks stock. The tach was a stand alone option and would be listed on the SPID if original. As a cross check the black bench interior was not offered in Supers.


The Ochre, assembled in St.Louis, is also clearly a Z84 Cheyenne with additions including at some point the "Super" emblems.

Both the tilt and tach were added as well. These would have been listed on the SPID as stand alone options. Plus since the U16 tachometer option included the Z53 gauges they would not be listed on the SPID of a factory tachometer truck. Also a YE9 Super included the Z53 gauges as part of the trim package and as such they would not generally be listed on a US built YE9 Super.

The bench saddle vinyl trim was not offered on YE9 Supers. Plus the factory did not offer saddle houndstooth Super trim.

The belt molding was included YE9 Supers and optional (SPID listed) at all other trim levels. In this case they were required for the Deluxe Two-Tone paint option.

The RPO number suffix/exception codes were, as Kieth touched on, simply there to more completely indentify an RPO. In 72 they rolled over to numbers from the previous letters and for the most part not really used for most options, simply ending in 10 in most cases. Need to remember the SPIDs were there for service techs and parts reference.

Hope this helps!

[plr1112]

About having a SPID reproduced, I think its a pretty bad decision for proving authenticity and resale value. A friend mentioned to me that I could have my SPID reproduced, since mine is moderately worn and faded. since I don't want to go that route I was wondering instead if there is some businesses that can actually restore old documents, etc.. I did read that old ink can be brought back brighter by using certain chemicals. does anyone know or has had a SPID restored/reconditioned? but, still keeping its authentication.


as a member posted previously about the SPID fabrics and so on, A SPID could be analyzed in a lab to have it dated, but I,m not sure if people would take it that far. LOL

[SS Tim]

If you feel you need a new SPID for any reason, I've always suggested restoring another glove box door and using that to display your new SPID. Keep the original door and SPID safely stored.

[Already Gone]

Originally Posted by plr1112

About having a SPID reproduced, I think its a pretty bad decision for proving authenticity and resale value. A friend mentioned to me that I could have my SPID reproduced, since mine is moderately worn and faded. since I don't want to go that route I was wondering instead if there is some businesses that can actually restore old documents, etc.. I did read that old ink can be brought back brighter by using certain chemicals. does anyone know or has had a SPID restored/reconditioned? but, still keeping its authentication.


as a member posted previously about the SPID fabrics and so on, A SPID could be analyzed in a lab to have it dated, but I,m not sure if people would take it that far. LOL

If you get a spid made and use it to try and sell a truck as something it isn't then yes, that's a problem. I added some original items to my truck so had another spid made. I will be removing my glove box door keeping the original spid intact and putting on adifferent glove box door with the reproduced spid.