panchop

I am going to pull my originial motor and replace it with another so if i trash the motor I'm not out big,bucks (well not AS big a bucks ). Still I will have the originial motor if I ever want to sell it. I see so many non matching number cras, all those engines could not have blown up. what happened to them all.

Hitch

You'd be surprised....Dave..

BarryK

Hi Panchop

I was seriously considering doing the same thing to my car. Store and preserve the original and drop in a nice crate motor to drive with. Probably can't do it for a year or so because of funds but it's something I think would be good.

As for your question, it's probably a number of factors. A lot of these cars were raced and/or abused when they were younger so probably a lot of blown engines. Another reason is probably that before these really became serious collector cars and weren't worth all that much (think about the early to mid '70's) a lot of people probably just wanted more power so they would replace motors with something else and didn't worry about keeping the original one. At that time keeping the cars original didn't mean much - think of all the custom work a lot of the cars had done such as fender flares, 3rd taillights added on each side, the "split's" removed from '63 coupes, etc. Also, I imagine that once the values on these cars really started to go up many were probably "brought back from the dead" where they had been sitting for years and a NOM motor was better than no motor at all.
These are just reasonable guesses off the top of my head and I'm sure many of the experts on here can come up with more and better reasons than that.

Plasticman

Probably not as many "blown", as just worn out, or as stated earlier, always looking for more power, and adding cubes is the easiest method (350's are pretty cheap and have lot's of potential!).

Plasticman

Plastic Pig

As unbelievable as it may sound people actually used to race and yes even drive their Corvettes daily. When you blew one up or needed a rebuild you probably wanted to get back on the road as fast as possible. I'm sure that then as now when you needed one quick you got an engine the machine shop had built and gave yours over as a core. Back then who would care about matching numbers. It is also beyond me why it is so important today. Most of those engines probably got rebuilt and wound up in a station wagon, pick up or plain old Impalas the same way.

A friend just found a 67 327/350 engine in a Toyota Land Cruiser of all places.

My 00' with 95k miles is already NOM due to an unfortunate incident at the track. I got a low mileage LS6 short block out of another now NOM 03' Z06 that was getting upgraded. As a matter of fact I've got no matching numbers in the drive train. Upgraded trans and rear too.
When I die the guy who gets it will be scratching his head trying figure the matching numbers thing out with this car.

And so the NOM story goes...........

Jeff Garner

BarryK is exactly right. It's simple, these are old cars and back in the day, when an engine blew or got tired, not all had the vision to try to preserve as original. They weren't collectible in the 70's, they were depreciating like any Icn remember in the 70's when you couldn't give away a car with a big block. A lot of big blocks were removed for small blocks. I guess this is why an old Vette with it's true original motor is more valuable now, to have survived this long with originality still intact.

Hitch

Jeff I thought when I saw you had posted it was to read something like this...

"With people like Dave (aka youwish2bme) driving vettes it's surprising that there aren't a lot more NOM vettes.."


Dave...

63Corvette

"As unbelievable as it may sound people actually used to race and yes even drive their Corvettes daily".
Ah yes........USED to.........Ha Ha!

Cruzmeisters

"Way back when/then" all Vettes were, were a little fancier than a Chevy convertible and we DROVE them
First thing I did was buy extra wheels, mount studded snow tires and on the WORST "snow days", drove the Vette to work because I could "lock it in gear" without worrying about my daily driver -with automatic shift - downshifting on a hill, putting me into a ditch
Then, someone started a club...invented "matching numbers" and many "TRAILER QUEENS" were begat
Cruz

tuxedo

I remember buying the cars and very shortly pulling the engines and rebuilding them with other guts or replacing the whole block etc. We never even knew probably where the casting numbers were or cared. Who cared about broach marks and losing the numbers if you decked the block. The only marks I knew to look for were double hump heads and if it was a four bolt main maybe. I didn't care what date any of that stuff was made. All we wanted to do was get rid of the junk from the factory that slowed the car down and go fast. The only number I new of was a VIN number. Things have changed.

JerryJ

Sold my '57 F.I. in '62 to a then 18 yr old kid with his mom...

He walked into my store (which I didn't have then) about 1995. Not remembering who he was, he introduced himself. He never took picts. of car and wanted what I had, which wasn't much.. Asked him about car, he said he sold it a long time ago..

He said they took original F.I. engine out and replaced with a 350...
Guess what ? I forgot to ask him what he did with engine, who he sold it to, or if he had a copy of the registration --- and forgot to ask his name & phone #... Now I will never know.............

Ironcross

The first thing is that the cars are now very old. From there many things occured. HP was the rage and bigger engines was a natural because they mounted in the same place with almost no physical changes. As the newer versions came out many of the older ones were upgraded to match the current years power. Just remember, 265`s were the first, then 327`s and 350`s in the small block Vettes. A complete crate 1970 LT1 engine could be had for $600.00. Even some of the BB cars experienced tremendous gains with a upgrade to an aluminum head L88 for only $1200.00. 375-550 HP was everywhere. When the Jews kicked the **** out of the Arabs in 1973 it was probably the last straw as HP was already going downhill starting in 1971 . Until recently HP has lost it`s luster. Another thing was the low production numbers of the early Vettes. Stolen, crashed, and raced Vettes also took there toll and helped diminish the correct numbers game which to me is really

Dave62

My 62 came out of a junk yard......it was not NOM....it was NM....thats no motor!
It had lead a very hard life....race car....fenderflairs....side mount motor mounts.....
It is now a very good driver....looks stock from the outside ....except the sound and the wheels.....400HP in a 62 is FUN!
Come to think of it..it could have been...or still could be numbers matching...... ...NO WAY!
Drive the vette.

Dave 62

Ironcross

Thats the way to have it Dave!
Heres the progression of my 62. New in 62, FI 360HP. 1964, 64`s bigger valve heads and a 64 camshaft. 1970, pulled the 327 for that $612.00 1970 LT1 I mentioned the price for in the above post. Naturally I put the injection back on. Why have a FI piece without FI. Plus they were always better than a carb or dual quads anyway. And 107512`s original 327 has been in the garage ever since. That era was dominated by a few good running Hemis and some big 427`s and in order to stay up with traffic changes were not at all uncommon. 1968, I bought a L88 Vette and said, now try me if the little one couldn`t handle the job. In 70 as I said, the 62 got the LT1. Now both Vettes were the best of both worlds, big engines and small engines. Tons of fun then and good gas was still available. Sadly today both Vettes see very little usage since I started to collect big block Camaros.

kellsdad

I take some care with my 63 Corvette, but I take my Cobra replica to the track (road racing) about four times a year. The engine has been apart twice in the last two years due to internal failures. I'm still working with the same engine block, but at the rate I've been going, it won't last forever. When they were in their prime, I'm sure many Corvettes saw the same kind of use my Cobra is seeing. That may explain where some of the original motors went.

BarryK

when racing your cobra, if the tach says 10,000 and your still in 2nd gear it's time to shift! might save some engine rebuild work and future cost of a new block!


sorry, i couldn't resist

Doughan

And many of the Mid Years that say they are matching numbers have been re-decked and re-stamped.

FXT

A lot of "kids" back in the late 60's purchased new high HP muscle cars and a fair amount of them couldn't keep up with the car payments. When they found out their car was about to be reposessed, they pulled out the new 396/375 HP engine and replaced it with some tired, old 283, with the new valve covers and air cleaner, so no one could tell the difference. The insurance companies were usually unaware of the switch when they wholesaled the car.

After a few years of getting burned, the insurance companies started up with keeping tabs on the matching #'s, so they didn't get ripped off. That's how the whole matching numbers thing got started.

65RDSTR

It seems like there are alot of original midyear engines out there either for sale or in another car. It would be if there were a way to reunite some of these lost soles. I'm sure there are alot of owners of NOM cars that would pay to get the original engine back.

65coupe

You're right about vette engines ending up in station wagons. In 1974 my brother bought a ' 57 Nomad wagon for $400 that had a 327. We didn't know one 327 from another back then. It was a smooth running, appeared to be bone stock motor that burned some oil with a 3.70 rear. The only thing which we couldn't figure out why it blew off most of the Big block mopars, Fords and GM's. Many years later and that motor swapped out for a LT-1 350/350, that 327 ended up rusting away in the garage. Then all of a sudden the numbers game comes into the picture...I buy the "Black Book" and check out that motor that turns out to be a 1966 corvette L79 motor.