1965 Shortbox measurements

[plymsatellite66]

Hey guys, my buddy just bought himself a 1965 W200 and we've got some measurement issues. The door tag on his 65 reads 122" wheelbase and the box, looks just like a standard sweptline box, measures about 7'. My 67 is labeled as 128" wheel base with the box measuring about 8.5'. The problem is there's about a 6-8" gap, large enough to store the spare 7.00 x 17 crossways between the box and cab. Any ideas on why the space is there?

thanks for the help,
Corey

*edit* - My 67 is 128" wheelbase with a 8.5' box and no gaps while the 65 measurements are 122" wheelbase with a 7' box and the several inch gap between the box and the cab.

[712edf]

Long bed wheelbases did increase from 122" to 128" I think during the mid '65 changeover, and the new bed I believe was longer accordingly. Also all W200's of the era were long beds (not the crew cabs). all W100's were short beds. D100's came in both WB's & bed configurations. D200's I believe were all long beds as well.

Having said all that which you may have already knew, could you possibly have a 61-65 bed on your 67? That's the only way I could visualize the gap being there.

Bucky

[plymsatellite66]

Oops, I reread my original post and see I may have made a it a little confusing. My 67 is the 128" wb with the 8.5' box and has no gap between the box, everything fits as it should. The newly aquired 65 is the 122" wb with a 7' box and the large gap between the box and cab.

I wasn't aware of the long wheelbase change, so just to clarify, what would the short wheelbase measurement be? Based on the info you gave, box trucks are actually the long wheelbase version for their respective years, correct? Perhaps we have the 65 long box with a later shortbox on it?

thanks for the quick reply,

Corey

[712edf]

bedtime story

Short wheelbase was 114" throughout the 61-71 sweptline era. It did not change. Only 1/2 tons came in this wheelbase IIRC. 61-65 beds had round taillights, 65-71 had oblong taillights. The change occured during the 65 year so a 65 truck might be either. 300 series may have even had a 9ft bed, but it would be uteline, no widebed.

Bucky

[plymsatellite66]

Thanks for the info. The short box on this truck has the round tail lights so it would be a 65 or older. I think for the time being we'll run the shortbox even with the gap. Good to know about the tail lights as there is a round tail light Sweptline at one of the nearby yards that I'll need to measure to see if it's the correct box for the 122" wheelbase. It's a half ton I know so hopefully it's not a 114" wheel base.

thanks,

Corey

[712edf]

FYI the half-ton 4x4 W100's from 61-68 had 8-lug wheels, as they shared axles with the 3/4 ton W200's. But were all short beds.

bucky