numbers, again

[john pickens]

Hi, new to the board and to the hobby. looking to buy first midyear.
have found a 66 convertible,touted as NOM. vin is 194676S119622, block
code 3782870, suffix 19622 F101HT. not seen the car yet, but i'm told
is 327/350. black book says block is a 65.
any opinions as to the possibility that this engine could be authentic despite
cast code? i do not yet know cast date(and may not be able to get it from
long distance). the cars looks good, and i plan a daily driver only- but would
prefer to be able to at least give potential buyers a maybe on original
engine. any of you likely to buy this car if looks and runs well? price
is 32000 asking .thanks.

[John Hinckley (29964)]

Re: numbers, again

John -

"NOM" means non-original motor, which this '66 appears to be.

The 3782870 block was used from '62-'65, 3858174 in '66, and the "HT" suffix was used for the non-optioned (no A/C, P/S, T.I., K19, etc.) 327/350 from '65 thru '67.

The car's VIN indicates it was built approximately April 18, 1966; the stamp pad engine code (F101HT) is missing a digit - the date field should have four digits. If it's 101 or 0101, that was a Holiday (no engines built on New Year's Day), and it's highly unlikely that an April car would have a January engine; data on other 1966 "HT"-engined cars 500 units before and after this one shows that all have April engines.

The car is advertised as having a non-original motor (NOM), and that appears to be the case ('65 or earlier block), and the pad appears to have been altered by adding the car's '66 VIN derivative.

[Joe Ciaravino (32899)]

Re: numbers, again

John:

Be sure to check the block casting date on the rear of the block (bellhousing flange),on the upper right side. It should be in the following format:

X YY Z

where X is the month (A==Jan, B=Feb, etc)

YY is the day of the month

Z is the year (in your case "5" for 1965)

if the year field is 2 digits (e.g. "65"), then it is a non Corvette "870" block.

Joe