I am looking at a 67 350 HP AC Car. I am a bit concerned about the stamping of the engine suffix. Does this look correct to anyone? Also, what about the trim tag? Car looks to be and is represented as auntouched original car but can the stamping of the HP be that inconsistent from the factory? thanks for the help!
The window sticker looks way to good for an original sticker. If you zoom in on the pad, it looks like an I or maybe a T between the H and the P. Maybe more of an I.
The pad looks good to me. It was common practice build many "H" motors in a row and stamp the final letter of the suffix later. That is why it is crooked.
The window sticker looks like a repo.
I think you are in the wrong forum here but if you are real serious about purchasing this car, contact Al Grenning, and for a couple of hundred dollars he can tell you if it is a legit pad . Anyone can give you an opinion for free , but if you want to take it to the bank get a pro like Al .
Make your offer conditional on his inspection.
Bill Purdy
redline is correct for a 350 horse. I personally have not ever seen a number this far off nor had I ever heard of the last number of the suffix being stamped later as mentioned above but I am no expert that is why I wanted to get some opinions. thanks!
I'm not charging $200 for my opinion, but I've seen a lot of engine stamps, and I've never seen ANY like that. Try a local NCRS judge and see what he thinks.
I'm not charging $200 for my opinion, but I've seen a lot of engine stamps, and I've never seen ANY like that. Try a local NCRS judge and see what he thinks.
I spoke to a former bloominton judge this evening who lives in my area and he says he has never seen a stamp like that and you could look at it two ways, one that if someone was faking it that would have taken better care to not make it so obvious or the factory could have possibly done it he supposed but it would be the first one like this that he saw as he feels it most likely would have been stamped no so obvious either. I am still scratching my head
I have contacted al grenning by email and he made it sound like you have to be the actual owner of the car for him to inspect and he would have to have a whole lot more pictures to determine anything. I have also talked to a couple of past ncrs judges and they could not offer a definite answer either way but did say they had not seen one this way. Everything else about the car seems legit but owner was a bit surprised that I thought the sticker was a repop and he said it came with the car years ago when he bought it.
A window sticker is easy to make it look very old but that one don't even look old. I would say Repro on that and as far ans the stamp pad ???? it would take someone better then me to answer that question. Good luck.
corcam, I don't know who the Bloomington or NCRS judges you talked to that had never seen a pad like this but you better find someone else to get info. from. It is common knowledge that the suffix letters were not always stamped at one time. here's a quote from an article in the Spring 1995 NCRS Corvette restorer -
"On occasion, engine assembly plants deliberately left off one or two of the suffix letters from the assembly code. The Flint small block plant did this because of problems with the speed of the line and the inability of workers to keep pace. Essentially, a second five-character holder was added to speed things along when the line got bottled up. Afterwards, operators would return to the five character pads and add the suffix characters by hand.
Tonawanda more often left off a single suffix letter. There were a variety of reasons for a whole series of similar practices at both plants. In all cases involving five or sic character date codes, the added suffix was completed sometime after the initial assembly code application."
The author of the above article is Al Grenning.
There are plenty of examples of these pads on the NCRS tech. board if you are a member.
corcam, I don't know who the Bloomington or NCRS judges you talked to that had never seen a pad like this but you better find someone else to get info. from. It is common knowledge that the suffix letters were not always stamped at one time. here's a quote from an article in the Spring 1995 NCRS Corvette restorer -
"On occasion, engine assembly plants deliberately left off one or two of the suffix letters from the assembly code. The Flint small block plant did this because of problems with the speed of the line and the inability of workers to keep pace. Essentially, a second five-character holder was added to speed things along when the line got bottled up. Afterwards, operators would return to the five character pads and add the suffix characters by hand.
Tonawanda more often left off a single suffix letter. There were a variety of reasons for a whole series of similar practices at both plants. In all cases involving five or sic character date codes, the added suffix was completed sometime after the initial assembly code application."
The author of the above article is Al Grenning.
There are plenty of examples of these pads on the NCRS tech. board if you are a member.
Jim
jim: owner actually had mentioned this article to me and I will be honest this was the first time I had ever heard about this but thank you for finding the actual article. I am not a expert by any means but I personally have not ever seen a stamp pad this far off. I am a ncrs member and do get on their board occasionally and where exactly did you say I could find examples of this on there? thanks!!
I have contacted al grenning by email and he made it sound like you have to be the actual owner of the car for him to inspect and he would have to have a whole lot more pictures to determine anything. I have also talked to a couple of past ncrs judges and they could not offer a definite answer either way but did say they had not seen one this way. Everything else about the car seems legit but owner was a bit surprised that I thought the sticker was a repop and he said it came with the car years ago when he bought it.
The easy solution here is to pay Al Grenning's fee and have the results sent to the owner. If he wants to sell the car, I'm sure he'd agree to do so (besides, it would be no expense for him).
The easy solution here is to pay Al Grenning's fee and have the results sent to the owner. If he wants to sell the car, I'm sure he'd agree to do so (besides, it would be no expense for him).
I agree with bb62, if you are truly interested put up the $ 200
Corvette Store
Legit Stamp Pad & Trim Tag???
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