Wot Year is My 1979 Dolphin's Toyota?

[RAMc]

I read where 1979 was the first year for the toyo dolphin, on this list there's a '78 Dolphin. my mechanic says i've got a 1978 rear end and now i find the e brake cable is 47 inches on 1979 (mine was closer to 41) and the 1978 cannot be found. i just ordered a 1978 universal e brake cable from Whitney's. i cannot find an engine stamping. the 1979 distributor cap i bought does not accommodate the dust cover that was in it when i bought it (a couple months ago). my door rubber is tired and i want to replace it, but don't know what year to get. i heard Dolphin (National) could hold a truck chassis for a year or three before using it. my rig says march and/or april of 1979. is there a way of finding out the truck chassis year and or any other part? 78 and 79 are different in just about everything i've found. as an aside, for my tires, i just bought a set of WINRUN R350 Tubeless 195R14C 106/104R 8PR LR D tires, rated for loads of 2094 LBs - 65psi. because they were the only ones we could find that would be 195 and carry the load.

[RAMc]

ok. i see on the sticker inside the driver's door where the Toyota date of Inc. mfg is 3/1978. so, there's my answer. hidden in plane sight, as per usual. 

[fred heath]

1979 was a transition year. From Jan-June they used the 1978 c&c. June-December was 1979 (new body style).

Easiest way to tell is by the # of headlights you have. If you have 4 it's a 1978, 2 headlights a 1979.

[Derek up North]

1979 Dolphin 500 Micro Mini.pdf

1978 Dolphin Micro Mini-1.pdf

[RAMc]

4 headlights. sure enough. thanks.

Bitchen, rad brochure ! I got all the options less air ... which means they added the dually, which is what I figured.

thanks for the assists.

Edited May 4, 2017 by RAMc