62 correct tranny

[Todd Pollock]

When looking for a Transmission for my car what is the best timeframe to have a tranny dated to be considered correct? I ahve serial number 3671 which is an early Nov car and need to get a new transmission and figure might as well go for the correct date. Any suggestions? Would teh tranny be dated a week earlier? Two weeks? Month?

Thanks for any help

Todd.

[Jack H.]

Re: 62 correct tranny

Like other dated parts, the 'typical' skew was 2-6 weeks prior to assy. But, in-plant inventory control was NOT a religious FIFO/LIFO scheme in those days. There was a reasonable degree of 'spread' in component dating for a number of reasons. NCRS judging rules presume a 6-month window prior to assy as the norm. There are isolated cases where individual judging guide books make exception based on what we know about a given part, but these are exceptions vs. the norm....

Since your transmission will be a replacement/restoration component vs. the correct/original (it was only factory original once and that's history), why knock yourself out trying to tie that date down too tightly? If a replacement assy is available that meets the 6-month window criteria and time/cost escalate dramatically to get closer (2-6 weeks), I'd say take the bird in hand and let club rules work for you....

But, different folks have different pride levels in their restorations and that's something one doesn't dictate. However, Noland Adams' Vol 2 book is pretty interesting as he gives participant survey data from '63-67 cars that are alledged to be 'untouched'. If you flip through those pages and follow the date makeup of a given car by VIN, you can see the statistics at work.

There WAS variance and the standard deviation was larger than a lot of folks think! This adds credence to the club's 6-month window policy....

[Todd Pollock]

Re: 62 correct tranny

music to my ears Jack. I have seen a couple of trannys made 2-3 months prior so I will look at pursuing those and not worried about a real close date. Perfect for me!!!

[Christopher R.]

Re: 62 correct tranny

I don't believe the transmission is judged.

[Dave S.]

Re: 62 correct tranny

The transmission is judged as you must have a T-10 properly configured for the appropriate year. Its the date and other numbers that are not judged.

[Mike E.]

Re: 62 correct tranny

It depends on which judging you're talking about. In bowtie judging we have the car on stands and we check all numbers on tranny, rear, etc. that, of course, is for original unrestored cars, and if you're missing your original tranny that makes it more difficult to score well--but there are two different criteria depending on which judging you're having done. To my way of thinking, there are more than 100 restored cars for every unrestored car that is in good condition. (C1's).
Mike ernst

[Jack H.]

Depends on what 'circuit'....

NCRS doesn't specifically verify cast numbers/cast dates in Flight Judging, but they ARE viewed/assessed in Bowtie Judging (Flight=restored Corvette category, Bowtie=unrestored Corvette category). However, we (NCRS) are not the only factory concours judging circuit and others (E.g. NCCB/Bloomington) do make the long, hard crawl under the chassis to read/verify tranny numbers....

[Dale Pearman]

Re: 62 correct tranny-Todd Pollock

First of all your car was built on December 6, 1961 not early November.

In flight judging the transmission can be seen as a correct T-10 or not but that's about all. Casting numbers on the three major components cannot be read from a distance BUT in judging your car I'd look for a bow-tie embossed cast on one side of the main case as well as the small metal tag indicating close or wide ratio gears.

In Bow-Tie judging the casting numbers and dates would be noted as well as the Borg-Warner assembly date. Also, in 1962 the Corvette's VIN derivative was stamped in close proximity to the assembly date stamp.

Hope this helps,

Dale Pearman