dso codes
Decoding Ford's DSO codes:
A 2 digit DSO code = District Sales Office
A 6 digit code: 1st 2 digits = District Sales Office, and the last 4 digits = special order #
A 2 digit DSO code = District Sales Office
A 6 digit code: 1st 2 digits = District Sales Office, and the last 4 digits = special order #
There are many opinions about what "DSO" means on a Ford vehicle's certification label. And while I'm no expert, I do believe the best source on the subject is Ford's publications. And they used the term in two ways:
Essentially there are 7 Ford publications - the yearly factory shop manuals - that say DSO is District Sales Office, and 8 publications that say it is Domestic Special Order - the yearly light truck organizers plus the one master parts catalog.
And these two uses of the term DSO continued well into the 90's, as shown by the pictures from the 1994 Taurus and 1995 Continental factory shop manuals.
Now, let's talk about what that space on the certification label was actually used for. As shown below, Ford said that for a regular-production vehicle there would be a two-digit code indicating which district sales office ordered it. But, for a special order vehicle. including domestic/foreign/limited production, there would be an additional code shown. According to Bill/Numberdummy, that code will be six digits long with the first two being the district sales office code.
- District Sales Office: The factory shop manuals for the Bullnose era show DSO as being "district sales office". You'll see that on the first picture in the gallery at the bottom of this page, and that's from page 10-00-16 in 1981. And, you'll see it in the next picture, which is from a 1986 FSM.
- Domestic Special Order: The dealer facts books, aka Light Truck Facts Organizers, as well as the 1980 - 89 master parts catalog define DSO as being Domestic Special Order. (See Page 7 in General Information in the 1981 Light Truck Facts Organizer and Page 12 of the 1994 edition of the MPC.)
Essentially there are 7 Ford publications - the yearly factory shop manuals - that say DSO is District Sales Office, and 8 publications that say it is Domestic Special Order - the yearly light truck organizers plus the one master parts catalog.
And these two uses of the term DSO continued well into the 90's, as shown by the pictures from the 1994 Taurus and 1995 Continental factory shop manuals.
Now, let's talk about what that space on the certification label was actually used for. As shown below, Ford said that for a regular-production vehicle there would be a two-digit code indicating which district sales office ordered it. But, for a special order vehicle. including domestic/foreign/limited production, there would be an additional code shown. According to Bill/Numberdummy, that code will be six digits long with the first two being the district sales office code.
Here are pictures from various Ford publications that use the term "DSO":
