Mexican-built 1st gens

SORTIE

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what percentage of 1st Gens were built in Mexico?

I found a blog where a guy was complaining about the poor-quality steel used and we all know about the lousy paint jobs they got
 

SORTIE

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that makes sense, Dodge wouldn't tool up two plants to produce the same trucks. does anybody know Dodge's history in Mexican truck production?

and for you guys who are modding 1st-gens, as you're tearing down and replacing components do you find yourself thinking that the overall build quality for these trucks was high or low?

******-built trucks might have a lot of shortcuts LOL
 
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rebel_horseman

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From what I can tell most of the 1st Gen trucks were Hechoed In Messyco. Mine was. There are issues with the trucks no doubt. From the crappy paint jobs, the marginal quality of the cowl that is prone to cracking, the steering box mounting location, fusible links, clock spring, etc. But overall, I have to say that my 1st Gen is by far the toughest truck I've ever owned. It's spartan compared to the creature comforts that come in trucks today, but those things are not at all necessary for the truck to do what it was built to do...work hard. My 180k mile truck can still get 20+ MPG and can still haul a trailer up and down the road with any other new 50k mile truck. But the main difference is, when something breaks on my truck I can fix it myself with simple hand tools and not a friggin computer, and the parts are not priced like they are gold plated. I am more than willing to overlook a few minor issues to get a tough as nails, uber reliable tow rig. Hell I've often wished someone would locate the tooling for the trucks and start building new versions of these old workhorses.
 

82F100SWB

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Both my 89 and 92 sport VIN's starting with 1, indicating built in the US... I'll take a look at the door sticker on the 92 tomorrow though.
 

SORTIE

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Both my 89 and 92 sport VIN's starting with 1, indicating built in the US...
VERY interesting, I guess my ASSuming was wrong...now we can start a discussion about whether the build quality of the U.S. mfd trucks was superior to Meheeco.

OR are mfrs allowed to say the truck was built in the U.S. if a certain % of components were sourced in the States?

I'm looking for a 1st gen but I want a U.S. built truck so I can fly my flag proudly as I scare the chit out of punks driving ricers
 

gearhead

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my dodge was made on assembly line 7 in dearborn,mi

I tried a different vin decoder and it says dodge city.warren truck plant...
 
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Clydesdale

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I would have assumed the Hecho en Mexico trucks to be better built overall, because the mexicans as a whole haven't lost the work ethic we have as a whole, and for the most part are a harder working and more prideful nation than we have become.

Kinda like I won't buy a japanese car that was assembled here.
 

u2slow

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My '90 is US production, and the '93 is Mexico. First digit of VIN tells you...
1 for USA
2 for Canada
3 for Mexico
J for Japan
 

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