Cab. 13 - early/late style dashboard use?

[Tony Wheeler]

Very occasionally we find early dash on late production F60S, invariably in combination with 1943 -FORD- front shell. This concurrence of seemingly unrelated parts may be explained by different wiring loom. Thus if the late type dashboard and gauge assembly is temporarily unavailable in production, the early type dashboard assembly must be used, which in turn compels the use of earlier type front shell assembly, because the wiring loom is pre-assembled to these. In other words, as Phil suggests, it's done to avoid stopping the assembly line. I can't think of any other reason for this practice.

Interestingly the same combination of early dash and front shell is found on most if not all post-war assembled F60L with coach built cabs. This to my mind suggests deliberate use of commercial type dashboard on these civilian vehicles.

I'll dig up some photos to illustrate this practice.