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  • GTE427
    Super-Experienced
    • Oct 9 2007
    • 602

    DSO Data Plate

    Currently there is a 59 convertible on ebay listed as a one of one, special ordered car with white interior. Whether or not this is true, considering the 60 door panels and the non-matching black dash, carpet, the seller included an image of the data plate. The trim code was left blank and the plate is stamped with a DSO 3218.

    This is the first time I've seen a data plate such as this on a Ford back to 1959. Can anyone shed some light as to what this data plate is about. Thanks.
    Ken
    1959 J Convertible
    1960 J Hardtop
  • fomoco59
    Super-Experienced
    • Jun 10 2005
    • 729

    #2
    I saw that too... maybe Alan Tast will shed details. Those are the wrong door panel style for sure.
    EBay Item number: 290243918812


    sigpic
    Mike Lemmon
    '59 Raven Black Hardtop

    http://www.tbirdregistry.com/viewdat...tryNumber=2461

    Comment

    • GTE427
      Super-Experienced
      • Oct 9 2007
      • 602

      #3
      Mike, in addition to Alan, I wondered if this data plate would interest John Rotella? I'm not on his forum, could you run this by him?
      Ken
      1959 J Convertible
      1960 J Hardtop

      Comment

      • fomoco59
        Super-Experienced
        • Jun 10 2005
        • 729

        #4
        Sure will...
        Last edited by fomoco59; July 9, 2008, 08:24 AM. Reason: Done !
        sigpic
        Mike Lemmon
        '59 Raven Black Hardtop

        http://www.tbirdregistry.com/viewdat...tryNumber=2461

        Comment

        • JohnG
          John
          • Jul 28 2003
          • 2341

          #5
          I put the VIN, H9YJ129654, in the TBird Registry Search software at

          http://www.tbirdregistry.com/vinsearch.asp and it came up empty.

          Could "DSO" be Dealer Special Order??? Just a guess...

          On the skeptical side, one can put a picture of anything they want on Ebay, whether it came from the car for sale or not. Casey (ctarp3) once got to looking at a car and noted that it was a picture of HIS OWN car! His was in OK while the one for sale was in NYC! The guy downloaded the photos from the web and then uploaded to Ebay, if my memory is correct.

          Question for knowledgeable people: can you go out and have a Data Plate made up??? One might need one for restoration purposes or one might need one for..... purposes depending on your motives....

          john
          Last edited by JohnG; July 9, 2008, 08:43 AM.
          1958 Hardtop
          #8452 TBird Registry
          http://tbird.info/registry/DataSheet...r~equals~8452)

          photo: http://www.squarebirds.org/users/joh...d_June2009.jpg
          history:
          http://www.squarebirds.org/users/johng/OCC.htm

          Comment

          • YellowRose
            Super-Experienced


            • Jan 21 2008
            • 17188

            #6
            DSO Data Plate

            To answer your question, John, yes you can have a new Data Plate made to say anything you want... Check Data Tags..



            You can replace one that is missing, or messed up if you can provide them with enough information to create a new one. You can make them read anything you want them to read. I was looking at the brads on that data plate and it looks to me like they might be fairly new. Perhaps others will be able to tell better than I can.

            As for what DSO stands for, I think you have it right. Dealer Special Order...

            Ray Clark - Squarebirds Administrator
            The Terminator..... VTCI #11178 ITC #6000 Yellow Mustang Registry (YMR) #12188
            Contact me via Private Message for my email address, or Call (Cell) 210-875-1411

            https://www.squarebirds.org/picture_gallery/TechnicalResourceLibrary/trl.htm
            Faye's Ovarian Cancer Memorial Website.
            https://faye.rayclark.info/index.html

            Comment

            • tbird430
              Super-Experienced
              • Jun 18 2007
              • 2648

              #7
              I thought it meant District Sales Order (DSO)?
              sigpic
              The 1960 Ford Thunderbird. The WORLD'S most wanted car....

              VTCI Member#6287.

              Comment

              • GTE427
                Super-Experienced
                • Oct 9 2007
                • 602

                #8
                DSO refers to the district sales office as I've come to understand from reading. In later years the DSO is a field that is found on the data plate as a two digit number that correlates to a city such as Cleveland, Philadelphia and so on were the car was originally ordered. On this 59, the plate read with four digits and the seller describes what they mean. Again this four digit code is new to me and my hope is that someone knows what this means or on the otherhand may know this to be a fraud for the 59 model year.
                Ken
                1959 J Convertible
                1960 J Hardtop

                Comment

                • YellowRose
                  Super-Experienced


                  • Jan 21 2008
                  • 17188

                  #9
                  DSO Data Plate

                  Hi Tbird!

                  Come to think of it, that might be right.. District Sales Order. Alan or someone else will have to set us straight!

                  Ray Clark - Squarebirds Administrator
                  The Terminator..... VTCI #11178 ITC #6000 Yellow Mustang Registry (YMR) #12188
                  Contact me via Private Message for my email address, or Call (Cell) 210-875-1411

                  https://www.squarebirds.org/picture_gallery/TechnicalResourceLibrary/trl.htm
                  Faye's Ovarian Cancer Memorial Website.
                  https://faye.rayclark.info/index.html

                  Comment

                  • GTE427
                    Super-Experienced
                    • Oct 9 2007
                    • 602

                    #10
                    After some quick research using the VTCI website and Legendary Ford Mag. DSO is District Sales Office. Also known as District Code, Domestic Special order, Foreign Special Order and Special Order.

                    Seems to have first appeared in 1967 as a regular line on the data plate. The first two numbers indicate the District where the car was ordered, and any subsequent numbers are the District Special Order number. If the car was a regular production car, only the two digit District was filled in. If the car was a special order, you would see a number such as 32300, decoding as District Sale Office 32, District Special Order #300.

                    The possibility is that prior to 1967, only special order Fords received the DSO on the data plate while regular production did not.
                    Ken
                    1959 J Convertible
                    1960 J Hardtop

                    Comment

                    • JohnG
                      John
                      • Jul 28 2003
                      • 2341

                      #11
                      Thoughts on the authenticity of the car in question:

                      * the Data Plate has paint on the edges. If it had been put on recently it would be on top of the paint.

                      * the worn seats are encouraging.

                      * I dont think there is a Reserve on it so they are taking their best shot and might not get a ton of money. (as I type this, it is about $15K)

                      * they freely acknowledge that the original color was Raven Black and it was repainted 15 years ago.

                      * they seem to have done their homework regarding the Data Plate:

                      The white colored interior is what makes it special. This interior was not offered on any Thunderbird as a regular production item. The 3218 DSO means ordering distrinct 32 (Cleveland), order number 18.

                      *on the other hand there are 4 days to go and it could go for a substantial sum leaving someone to decide if they wish to put a great deal more into returning it to Raven Black.

                      I am curious as to what Alan has to say. All in all it seems to lack the attention to detail that a serious forgery, if you will, would have.

                      (these opinions and 60 cents will get you today's paper in many areas)

                      John
                      1958 Hardtop
                      #8452 TBird Registry
                      http://tbird.info/registry/DataSheet...r~equals~8452)

                      photo: http://www.squarebirds.org/users/joh...d_June2009.jpg
                      history:
                      http://www.squarebirds.org/users/johng/OCC.htm

                      Comment

                      • tbird430
                        Super-Experienced
                        • Jun 18 2007
                        • 2648

                        #12
                        That's a good read John G. As for me I will have to hurry home for lunch to see the pics of this "rare" bird. It seems, while I am at work, these pictures are blocked by our security software....
                        sigpic
                        The 1960 Ford Thunderbird. The WORLD'S most wanted car....

                        VTCI Member#6287.

                        Comment

                        • tbird430
                          Super-Experienced
                          • Jun 18 2007
                          • 2648

                          #13
                          I say wave the "BS" flag. I'm sure it was a special order car for some reason or another, but 1960 door panels on a 1959 T-Bird convience me the interior had been dyed white after Ford delivered it new.

                          Just my 2 cents though...
                          sigpic
                          The 1960 Ford Thunderbird. The WORLD'S most wanted car....

                          VTCI Member#6287.

                          Comment

                          • Alan H. Tast, AIA
                            Experienced
                            • Jan 5 2008
                            • 216

                            #14
                            '59 Dso

                            This helps to confirm that there were special orders during the period. Are there others out there? More than likely, but usually the special orders were for an exterior paint color or color/upholstery combination not listed in the catalogs. Special-ordered upholstery is a new one for me to see.

                            I haven't checked out the auction photos yet, but I can tell you that DSO-stamped data plates have been documented on a few 1960 'Birds (including the two Allegheny-Ludlum stainless steel cars). This is the first one I recall seeing for '59, and while I do know there are instances of '57s with special orders I haven't seen a '58 or '59 plate stamped this way until now.

                            Since an all-white-trimmed car was not offered in '58-'59, having someone special-order one is not outside of the realm of reality. More than likely it would have been given black accents like the carpet (and possibly the dash pad) - Ford used black as the carpet color for the XK-coded '57 T-birds with all-white interiors, so there is precedent. In fact, I've seen such combinations on full-size '63-'64 Fords and even '64 T-birds with white seat upholstery/door panels/consoles and black-colored carpeting.

                            As for the '60 door panels, note that the data plate date of 07C means the car was built around March 7 '59. I suspect that the original door panels must have been trashed out and replaced with a better used set of '60 panels. The non-original blue repaint in lieu of black for the exterior does mean that the car has been worked over during its lifetime. Pity...but my question is are the seats covered in leather or vinyl?
                            Alan H. Tast AIA, LEED AP BD+C
                            Technical Director/Past President, Vintage Thunderbird Club Int'l.
                            Author, "Thunderbird 1955-1966" & "Thunderbird 50 Years"

                            Comment

                            • fomoco59
                              Super-Experienced
                              • Jun 10 2005
                              • 729

                              #15
                              Thanks Alan... to add to this is John Rotella's response:

                              This data plate's lack of a trim code and the 4-digit DSO means it was built with a special, non-standard interior. It could be just the color (or colors), or material, or both. It was more common to see a 6-digit DSO which indicated (in the first two digits) the ordering office. For instance a code of 110123 would mean special order number 0123 for the Boston Office (11). These are true special order cars, not just a car specially ordered by someone. A true special order car means it had some kind of component that was not standard to the regular cars on the assembly line - from paint to trim to suspension and more. In the Thunderbird Registry we have a 1963 Hardtop equipped with Landau wood grain paneling, and that generated a DSO code.
                              We also see DSO codes with many cars and trucks ordered for fleet use, like police or taxi use, or utility company use. These vehicles typically had some item of non-standard equipment that was common to all of them. One of my favorite DSO fleet orders is for a group of four 1963 Meteor station wagons that came equipped with a heavy duty alternator. I ran across one of these cars not too long ago, the alternator is enormous like a small garbage can!
                              So it is more than just specially ordered, it truly is a special order.
                              Best Regards
                              John Rotella
                              sigpic
                              Mike Lemmon
                              '59 Raven Black Hardtop

                              http://www.tbirdregistry.com/viewdat...tryNumber=2461

                              Comment

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