1959 Engine Pad date question

[Ken K.]

I'm looking a '59 Corvette. The birthday calendar said it was built on or around January 17, 1959. My question is: The engine pad is stamped: F125CQ
Is this Jan. 25th? or December 5th? I'm not sure of the casting date of the block. This information is coming to me via the current owner. I have not seen the pad. Should I do more investigating on this "matching number" car? He is saying that this is the original motor.
The car's vin is: 103311
Thanks

[Terry D.]

Re: 1959 Engine Pad date question

Ken

According to the NCRS spec guide,the final vin number in December was 2641 and the final in January was 3962, so I would say the car was built on January 25th. Hope this helps
Terry

[Ken K.]

Re: 1959 Engine Pad Date Code Problem

Thanks Terry for the info. Using those numbers, the car should have been built on or around the 17th for January. That is also what the "Birthday" websites are saying. My question is about the engine stamp code being "F125CQ". Is that December 5th? or is it January 25th? Shouldn't there be a zero in that date code? Like "F0125CQ" or "F1205CQ"

[Jim D.]

Re: 1959 Engine Pad Date Code Problem

That would be Jan. 25th. GM always used 2 digits for the day 01-31. They started using 2 digits for the month 01-12 vs. 1-12 approx. mid Jan. 1960.

[Tom B.]

Re: 1959 Engine Pad Date Code Problem

For the month stamping years 1957 through 1959 used "1" throught "12" Starting sometime in 1960 the months changed to "01" through "12". Day of the month in both cases was "01" through "31". So this block is dated January 25. Too late for the car built on Jan 17th if it is a '59 casting date. Of course it could also be too early if the casting date ends up being Jan '58 or '57. To have been a December 58 built engine it would be stamped F1205CQ and cast in '58.

Tom