73 Black?

[Mike80D]

Was this a less common color for 73? I found the 500 Midnight Black rpo , but the 73 sales brochure, or info packet from GM Heritage center does not show it to be standard?? My pickup is definitely nothing to write home about, but I do like the fact that it might be an oddball of sorts.

[Getter-Done]

Yeah, I don't recall seeing a black 73 before.
Those grills are tough.
Most that I have seen are still in decent shape.

[jocko]

Very interesting indeed! 500 black was an option on series 40-90 only in 73, not light duty. So, I'd have expected you'd have a Special Paint code on the SPID rather than the color RPO. Kinda breaks from precedent. As a data point, very similar situation for me with a 76 I had - EXCEPT it had the Special Paint code. It was 88 orange, and in 76 that was only available on series 40-90, so the SPID made sense.

Anyway, you've got an original black 73 and that's pretty awesome!

[Mike80D]

Originally Posted by jocko

Very interesting indeed! 500 black was an option on series 40-90 only in 73, not light duty. So, I'd have expected you'd have a Special Paint code on the SPID rather than the color RPO. Kinda breaks from precedent. As a data point, very similar situation for me with a 76 I had - EXCEPT it had the Special Paint code. It was 88 orange, and in 76 that was only available on series 40-90, so the SPID made sense.

Anyway, you've got an original black 73 and that's pretty awesome!

I guess I should ad a pic of my SPID. Kind of hard to read. Probably wasn’t the best idea to move them to the engine bay. I find it odd that it says color combination, but the truck is all black. OR I should say it once was haha. The only other trucks I can find that mention that rpo are some of the later 70s sport models. Not sure if it has anything to do with it, but the truck is Canadian built fwiw.

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by Mike80D

I guess I should ad a pic of my SPID. Kind of hard to read. Probably wasn’t the best idea to move them to the engine bay. I find it odd that it says color combination, but the truck is all black. OR I should say it once was haha. The only other trucks I can find that mention that rpo are some of the later 70s sport models. Not sure if it has anything to do with it, but the truck is Canadian built fwiw.

If I am reading that right it says "9V1".

"9V1" would be an "SEO" (Specialty Equipment Option), rather than an RPO (Regular Production option), based on the Number/Letter/Number configuration.

My guess is somebody used a fleet code to put black on the '73 Light duty truck.

Going from memory but I don't think black was a regular production color until 1975 model year.

K

[jocko]

Originally Posted by Mike80D

I guess I should ad a pic of my SPID. Kind of hard to read. Probably wasn’t the best idea to move them to the engine bay. I find it odd that it says color combination, but the truck is all black. OR I should say it once was haha. The only other trucks I can find that mention that rpo are some of the later 70s sport models. Not sure if it has anything to do with it, but the truck is Canadian built fwiw.

Thanks Mike - sorry, I thought you meant in your first post that you found a 500 code on your truck somewhere, SPID, fwall, etc. Caught your SPID later in the other thread aslo - makes more sense now - you should not see 500 on a 73 light duty SPID.