[jocko]

a "true" shortbed would have been born with a 7 in the model number and born with 115 wb on the SPID - whether that kind of originality matters to thread posters (myself included) is irrelevant, what matters is whether or not it matters to the OP (it seems to) and how the truck was presented to him - i.e. truthfully or not. So, for all the folks saying it's 'now' a true shortbed so enjoy it and get over it, let me ask this - how would you be feeling right now if you personally saved up your hard earned cash for an ORIGINAL, by birth, shortbed (because it mattered to you, the buyer - as it seems to have mattered to the OP), bought it, and found out the seller may have intentionally withheld info (and I still don't know that is the case in this case, interested to hear how the discussion went while the inspection was actually taking place in person - did it even come up)? Would you just be telling yourself, ah, it doesn't matter? I don't think so. I completely understand the perspective - believe me, yes, these are "just" trucks and a built short bed is every bit as awesome as an original one - BUT, in today's market, true originality commands the highest selling prices. So, if the OP bought it with the actual historical knowledge he now has, he wouldn't be asking these questions - it sounds like it was not disclosed. And if the price was higher because of the originality perception, then that's a big party foul on the seller's part. Yes, buyer beware in all cases - we all live and die by that little quip. But sounds like the OP did all he could to confirm in person and still got told it was an original shortbed. Bottom line, if the model #, SPID wb, etc - i.e. any supporting paperwork - are not legible or they're ALL missing, then there is no way to confirm original swb birth without a build sheet - this truck proves that it's all guesswork beyond that - and the selling price should not be the same as one presented as an original, the paper matters. Even cowl grease pencil marks can be fudged.

Yes, this all sucks, I WISH the truck world had not evolved to become the 1st Gen Camaro world, but let's face it, it has. If you buy a conversion, frame swap, cab swap, homebuilt, or anything like that knowingly - that's great, the "just enjoy it" approach absolutely applies. If you buy an original at today's price for an "original" and find out it's not, then that does kinda stink - whether it's the buyer's or seller's fault doesn't matter much at that point, it just sucks - but it would piss me right off to find out that the seller may have scammed me. (Again, I DON'T know if that happened in this case - the BUILDER did a great job - sounds like the BUILDER was not the SELLER in this case, it's been flipped a bit as the builder kept the white wheels when it sold). Anyway, as much as I hate to say it and hate to be the voice of dissent, prices are affected by originality - and in today's market it matters. That doesn't mean at all that a swb frame swap is less of a cool truck - not at all, it's the price differential between that and an original swb truck that matters when buying today. I believe the OP is looking for ground truth and not a "it's cool anyway" or "it's an original anyway" to make him feel better. It sounds to me like the originality mattered to him. It IS a very cool truck - there's no dispute. But if he spent $XXXX MORE than he would have spent on a known frame swap truck BECAUSE he thought it was original, then he's probably not very happy after reading Canuckvetter's very helpful post. Again, responsibility is the buyer's as always, and some sellers simply DON'T know the lineage of what they are selling, which is fine too - but if a seller misleads, then that gets to me. Again, that may not be the case here - won't know until we hear more for the OP.