vehicle build date question

[FirstOwner69]

Your dates are all fine. The dates on lenses do not indicate the date of manufacture. I believe the dates are the year the lenses were first approved for use by SAE, the DOT or some other government agency. That usually (always?) coincides with the model year first used.

There were 2 slightly different backup light lenses used between 1967 and 1972. The first type used before 1971 (1970?) had a bullseye molded into the lenses in front of the bulb socket. That was eventually eliminated. I would bet the year molded into the lenses also advanced when that change as made. So, your truck should have bullseye backup light lenses. I believe all years had bullseye taillight lenses.

Side markers were initially mandated for 1968 vehicles, and they could be lights or reflectors or both. Effective Jan. 1, 1970, they had to be lighted with reflectors. Most manufacturers converted before that date. That said, your truck would have had the standard non-lighted reflector lens without a provision for a bulb as verified by the fact that your truck has no wiring for bulbs. Deluxe markers were introduced during 1969. I've never seen any non-lighted deluxe marker lights. Initially, the front lighted markers did not flash with the turn signals. Sometime before the end of 1972 they were wired to flash. I have converted my truck to the deluxe lighted side markers using wiring that I salvaged from a 1970 at the local junkyard.

Here's a picture of the back of one of my original markers.