[1960HDGMC]

No sweat. I agree that it is hard to converse with any eloquence and nuance by way of typing. I never take any academic discussion personally. That would hamper earnest inquisition, and would not serve to further our craft. I believe the GMC in the coastal truck pictures are western. But I found these pictures with no literature, so this thought is at best extrapolated conjecture based on circumstantial evidence i.e., an educated guess. But it is all I have to go on. If the paint break evolve during a series year, I would expect the serial numbers to be high or low for each variant. The white topped tailgates may be products of one or more plants. The fact that my early production truck did not have it does not prove that none were produced at Pontiac. I do not suspect that any were, but only from lack of evidence to date. To really sort this out, the discussion requires a pool of extant original trucks with serial numbers. My truck was number 1493 produced at Pontiac. I am lucky to have the original owner here in town to talk with. I also grew up inspecting the truck almost weekly, as our town barber was near the Harley shop where my truck lived. But I do not even know if Pontiac ran separate serial number series for big truck and coaches, or if they all shared one series of numbers. Told you I am no expert, haha. I am leaning towards a western plant ("C" code") variant, probably exclusive to the one plant, likely without a separate set of paint regulations. I may6be wrong, but that is my best guess based on what I have gathered to date. I hope to find a "smoking gun" set of paint regs that calls for the white top. I am beating the bushes looking. Thanks,GM