A Bullnose Looks At 40

[Dorsai]

It occurs to me that either this month or next marks 40 years since the first Bullnose trucks rolled off the assembly lines.  Does anyone know where the oldest surviving Bullnose is?  For that matter, who here has the oldest one on the forum?

I'm sure it's not me - my truck's build date was 3/20/1980, roughly halfway through the first year's run.  So who has an older one?

[salans7]

My old 1980 was built in December of 1979. But I've seen trucks built around August too.

[Rembrant]

Dorsai wrote

It occurs to me that either this month or next marks 40 years since the first Bullnose trucks rolled off the assembly lines.  Does anyone know where the oldest surviving Bullnose is?  For that matter, who here has the oldest one on the forum?

I'm sure it's not me - my truck's build date was 3/20/1980, roughly halfway through the first year's run.  So who has an older one?

Well, there was a member on here a while back, and he was posting on Facebook as well, but he bought a 1980 model somewhere in the Mid West (I think?) that had a VIN ending in 00001, and there was some discussion(s) about whether it was the first Bullnose or one of the first, but I don't think that there was any way to confirm that. I believe he even contacted Marti and they told him that there was no way to confirm it.

I'm pretty sure that same truck was put back up for sale a few months after that.

Does anybody else remember this besides me? I'll go search now and see if I can find it...

[Rembrant]

Here is the thread, if this works...

http://forum.garysgaragemahal.com/Might-possibly-be-the-first-bullnose-to-roll-off-of-the-assembly-line-tp16678.html

[Dorsai]

salans7 wrote

My old 1980 was built in December of 1979. But I've seen trucks built around August too.

Funny, I actually remembered that...someone else has a 1979 (November?) build as well, maybe Rogue_Wulff?  

[salans7]

Dorsai wrote

salans7 wrote

My old 1980 was built in December of 1979. But I've seen trucks built around August too.

Funny, I actually remembered that...someone else has a 1979 (November?) build as well, maybe Rogue_Wulff?

As I typed my response, I thought of him because I'm pretty sure his truck was built before mine. My sequence of assembly was HD0580.

[kramttocs]

Mines 1138 but not sure how chassis cabs fit into the sequence.
Only stamped date is 10-79 on the chassis cab conformance sticker.

[Dorsai]

kramttocs wrote

Mines 1138 but not sure how chassis cabs fit into the sequence.
Only stamped date is 10-79 on the chassis cab conformance sticker.

Is the conformance sticker the same as a door jamb sticker?  If so, that makes it the earliest one that I am aware of.

[kramttocs]

Same location but different sticker. The 10-79 is stamped but I don't know if it was stamped en masse and has nothing to do with the truck build date or not.

Where are you getting the build date for yours? My later model trucks have the month/year but the 80 has very little info.  ---- this may be another cab/chassis difference?

I'll post of photo of my door jamb later.

[Dorsai]

kramttocs wrote

Where are you getting the build date for yours? My later model trucks have the month/year but the 80 has very little info.  ---- this may be another cab/chassis difference?

I'm getting it from the door jamb sticker.  I don't know if this varies by year, assembly plant, or what, but in the clear portion of my sticker, in the upper left above the white part, it has the date 03-20-80 printed on it.  I'd post a photo but the printing is extremely faint against the red background of the truck, and I can't get my camera to pick up on it.  

[kramttocs]

Ok, I think we can ignore where my truck falls in the sequence. Looks like a normal sticker was applied and then replaced with an 'incomplete' one so who knows.

[Rembrant]

Dorsai wrote

It occurs to me that either this month or next marks 40 years since the first Bullnose trucks rolled off the assembly lines.  Does anyone know where the oldest surviving Bullnose is?  For that matter, who here has the oldest one on the forum?

I'd be curious to know the Bullnose production numbers, overall and per year...that would be interesting.

I'm also curious...back then the trucks were built at several different plants. One in Canada, and 3 or 4 in the USA? would they start production of a new model in some kind of synchronized fashion between all plants? Or would they have done a run starting at one plant.

I guess I'm just curious, did the Bullnose trucks hit a certain region first, or did they send them all over.

[Rogue_Wulff]

salans7 wrote

Dorsai wrote

salans7 wrote

My old 1980 was built in December of 1979. But I've seen trucks built around August too.

Funny, I actually remembered that...someone else has a 1979 (November?) build as well, maybe Rogue_Wulff?

As I typed my response, I thought of him because I'm pretty sure his truck was built before mine. My sequence of assembly was HD0580.

Just happened to find an old photo of the build sheet I ordered many years ago....
The build date is 1/31/80, and the sequence number is HD5440.
The "E" engine code isn't quite correct anymore...…...

[salans7]

I always thought your truck was earlier, but that means it wasn't.

The F10 and the E on my old truck were both wrong. lol.