1970 Early Production Question

[Steve B.]

Over the weekend I looked at a car which, according to the trim tag, was built on January 20th (A20). The date code on the engine block was J239. Going from memory, I believe this means October 23rd, 1969. Would the labor strike of that year be the reason for the 3 month gap between block and body build dates? Is this common of other early 1970 cars? I'm used to seeing blocks that were built much closer to the trim tag date.

[Terry M.]

Re: 1970 Early Production Question

My A29 built 1970 has an engine cast date of A70. Going back to A20 I see some engines with a cast date of L159 and L19. Any chance the J is really an L? L239 would be two days before Christmas.

[Mike E.]

Re: 1970 Early Production Question

I have 70 #1441--I'm at work, and don't have the trim tag memorized. It's a 350/350 with wrong block but original heads--owned forever by a guy who didn't know anything about dates--heads are Nov. 7 and Jan. 8. FWIW

[Steve B.]

Re: 1970 Early Production Question

The letter was definately a J. The "backwards" hook part at the bottom was very clear.

[Jim T.]

Re: 1970 Early Production Question

Is the VIN and engine stamping correct on the engine pad for the 70?

[Steve B.]

Re: 1970 Early Production Question

I'm no expert, but it appeared to be. The motor was rebuilt, but the pad was painted during the rebuild. It had since been cleaned up with a wire brush of course so it's tough to tell. I tried to peer at the markings through the cross car scratches in the pad as best I could. Thought I'd inquire about the date issue first before mentioning the pad issue.

[Terry M.]

Re: 1970 Early Production Question

Steve,
I would say that a cylinder case cast that early is not what we would expect to see for that build date. We have, however, probably looked at less than five percent of the early 1970 production, so what can we say. That is hardly a statistically significant portion of Corvette production. The date you posted is well within the six month window for NCRS judging. And the benefit of the doubt always goes to the car.
BTW: I have seen no evidence that the strike(s) had anything to do with early 1970 Corvette production -- neither in terms of component dates nor the much heralded delay in the start of 1970 Corvette production.

[Mark #28455]

Re: 1970 Early Production Question

I have seen several early 1970 454 blocks that were cast Sept 1969 (I), but they were Impala blocks, not Corvette.

[Dick W.]

Re: 1970 Early Production Question

Like Terry said, it is out of the norm that we usually see, but in this era I believe that St. Louis operated on the first in, first out inventory system. John Hinckley or Michael Hanson could comment on this better.