I am working on fixing title issues on some of my trucks let me outline the problem. What is the definative cutoffs for 74 and 75 trucks. I have multiple pieces of documentation that only make things more confusing.

Here are the trucks in question with all the info I currently have and title info

1974 REPU build date 8/74 vin number PA136-109881
1974 REPU build date 8/74 vin number PA136-109985
1975 REPU build date 10/74 vin number SPA136-121457
1975 REPU build date 7/75 vin number SPA136-108888


Mazda data published in 1991 Vehicle ID Manual states that 1974 started at # PA136-100011, 1975 started at # SPA136-105776, 1976 started at # PA136-150001

Mazda data from REPU parts manual with monthly production breakouts states that production for 1974 started with PA136-100173 and 1975 started with SPA136-112286

the monthly breakout for numbers looks like this (begining number each month)
12/73 PA136-100173
1/74 100377
2/74 101495
3/74 102592
4/74 103660
5/74 104619
6/74 106113
7/74 107849
8/74 108699
9/74 110103
10/74 SPA136-112286
11/74 122309
12/74 -none
1/75 122359
2/75 122366
3/75 122369
no further production numbers for 1975

So here is my question how did I get a 1975 truck that shows it was built in 7/75 with a chassis number of 108888 and how come I have 2 74 trucks with chassis numbers that come after it 109881 and 109985 this shouldn't be possible becuase no trucks were built in 7/75 does anyone out there have a 75 truck that is similar, for example one built in 7/75 or a 74 truck that was built later in 74 like 9/74

 

I'm looking into buying a 75. when i go look at it i'll check the date and vin

 

I actually made the same thread in a couple of different forums I am a member of and between them all here is the answer that developed

Well I have the answer but I have no way of validating it yet. Through my Mazda friends I got access to a Mazda guy that worked with Mazda since the very early 70s. He stated the following with the caveat that he knows of no way to prove any of this. Just as some of us have suspected Mazda did rebadge trucks in late 75. These trucks were at the factory or at the port but not part of the dealer inventory yet. new door plates and cowl plate were installed converting them from 74 to 75. My source stated that he personally picked up a stack of plates from the warehouse for this exact purpose. This lead to some interesting things happening. For instance a Mazda vehicle with 2 door tags one right on top of the other the top one with the 75 data the covered one with the same chassis number and the 74 data. A 75 truck with the wrong cowl data plate, it was 2 numbers off (i should have kept it but titling it scared me). And last but not least 2 trucks with obvious 75 chassis sequence numbers but 74 titles and no "S" on the vin number. Here is the deal while the trucks where all at the port they weren't in line per se with this vin going before that one. Also with muliple ports some had more trucks than others because regionally they sold better in some places. Therefore it is easy to see that a truck 109xxx in a popular color with certain options and in a good region sold long before that puke green automatic with white interior no a/c and radio delete in a poor region number 105xxx. How did mazda determine the begining number for 75. Well originaly it sould have been like 10/74 so everything after 10/74 got a vin starting with an S, then for a small amount of time as needed when a 74 vehicle would leave the port they would stamp it with a S on the exsisting plates (with differing font alignment issues etc) finally because of issues with supposed cases of vin tampering that got customers in trouble (the law thought the consumer did the tamper when it was actually Mazda) The were told (but not in writing) to change all the data plates hence advancing the production date to 7/75 leaving no doubt that it is a 75 vehicle. During this period they did not double up on numbers in fact there is an undetermined number gap in the chassis sequence, one can only guess that they were "hedging a bet" making sure they had a group of vin numbers they could re-assign if needed.

So there you go I got my answer and confused everyone.... if you have a question please ask.

 

well I bought the REPU this morning. I don't pick it up till wednesday which will be the first time we see it, sort of. This truck used to belong to my wifes father which had to sell it because of finacial issues. It gets to come home.

 

I spoke with a good friend about this from the REPU forum, BVOIGT from the mazdarepu has quite a bit of knowledge of these trucks and hit on some of the points you made.

I propose that we put together a REPU registry as has been done with the 1st gens. Make sure everyone who posts includes production month and year, along with VIN. Wish I still had the vins of the two REPUs I parted.