I recently saw a supposed '63 fuelie coupe that was "numbers matching" which was correct except that the engine build date preceded the body build date by almost two months. Is this reasonable? I know that engines with mechanical problems could be pulled off the line and "fixed" and this could take some time but how likely is this? I'm not being completely open here though because the VIN on the engine pad was preceded by an "S" for St. Louis instead of a "3" for the year so I know this was a restamp (assembly plant codes were not included until '68). Still, I wonder, if the idiot had stamped it with a "3" instead, would NCRS accept this as numbers matching? The casting date and block number and suffix code were all consistent.
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Re: Question for you numbers people
Ray-----
6 months is the allowable "window" for both NCRS and NCCB judging. So, from the date perspective, this car easily falls within the allowable window. In actual practice, the elapsed time between engine build and body build was about 2-4 weeks. However, 2 months would not be way out of the ordinary. Folks at the St. Louis Corvette plant didn't "rotate their stocks" with engines. It was more like first in, last out and last in, first out. Fork lift drivers removing engines from the engine bay grabbed the first one in the bay, which often menat that engines which were in the back of the bay languished there for quite awhile.In Appreciation of John Hinckley -
Re: Question for you numbers people
Thanks Joe. I remember reading the 6 mos. thing in the manual, now that you mentioned it. I know the "machining" marks are also important for authentication but I for one have not seen enough original engines to be certain about its appearance.Comment
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Re: Question for you numbers people
Another thing to consider is that a low volume engine option is likely to have more date spread than a more common option. FI was only about 12 percent of production while the other three engines averaged close to 30 percent.
Especially if Flint built engine configruations in batches, which makes sense, FI engines probably would have, on average, sat around the St. Louis plant longer than the other engines configurations before they were installed in a chassis going down the lilne.
DukeComment
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Re: Question for you numbers people
Makes sense Duke.Comment
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