Hi all, I bought a 65 L320 last week. The vin starts with a '4' on the firewall tag, but it says 1965 on the printing and on the title.

The previous owner had it for 41 years. I paid way too much but after talking to the owner on the phone (he is 85 years old) it was clear that he loved this little truck and hated to sell it. It has been continously licensed since 1971 by the same guy so I figured it's most likely all original.

It's missing one of the chrome headlight trim rings. He said it went missing when he had the truck shipped from California to Tennessee in 1985. I noticed that I can buy new ones on ebay from Thailand, but I only need one. Plus if I put one new shiny chrome trim ring on it will make the rest of the truck look bad. If anybody has an extra, I would definitely consider buying it for a reasonable price, whatever that is!

Also, I'm trying to locate the frame vin number, just to verify everything. I have cleaned all the grease off the frame rail on the passenger side in front of and behind the shock but haven't been able to see any numbers in the metal. I have the tattered owners manual and there is a diagram of where the frame number is stamped but it is so poorly illustrated (no context) that I can't tell where it is supposed to be on the car. In the text, it does say on the top surface of the left side frame member though. If anybody can give me foolproof instructions to locate the number it would be helpful.

It has all the other trim except for one of the '60' emblems is missing, so I need one of those too, or I may try to make a mold off the existing one and create a replica if they're really hard to come by. The bed is completely rusted out so I may do some kind of stepside bed rather than try to restore the original rusty bed.

I would like to put bucket seats with headrests in it for both comfort and added safety (in case of getting rear ended your head doesn't go through the back window). Any ideas on low profile buckets from a stock vehicle that would work? I'd prefer to get some junkyard seats to keep the cost down.

I will post some pics when I can. Any help would be appreciated.

Welcome to the community man! Hope you can find everything you need, as they can be hard to find but not impossible. I always forget where the frame rail vin is, but I'll figure it out for ya.

Welcome and enjoy your stay!

Here is the page from the owners manual that supposedly shows the location of the frame vin. I'm not sure what the diagram is showing, it sure doesn't look like anything on the car as far as I can tell. Any ideas?

IIRC, the frame number is in front of the front left wheel... but I'd bet a paycheck it's all matching.

Yours was built in '64, sold in '65, so it'd be titled as a '65. Common with Datsun.

I *may* have a headlight ring, let me check my stash.

Got all of the missing stuff, at least that I know of so far. Thanks!

What's your location?
I have a spare 320 bed but looks like you might be in Tennessee?

Actually I am in the St. Louis area. Bought the truck from the Nashville area. Where are you located?