Mid Year Orange 1956 Corvette Motor?

[Edward M.]

Re: Mid Year Orange 1956 Corvette Motor?

While I can't speak to the issue of orange vs. red for late 56 Corvette engines, I own a August built 56 Bel Air with a 76 K original mile Tonawanda engine in it. Engine has never been painted on since new, and it is definitely 56 red.

[John C.]

Re: Mid Year Orange 1956 Corvette Motor?

Hi Edward,

Cool.....love to see it, especially the engine!

John

[Gary C.]

Re: Mid Year Orange 1956 Corvette Motor?

John,

1956 VIN 4026 engine was red, the sequence number 0549901, F56FG, automatic transmission, can't find the block cast date. The frame stamp was mid June and was 303190-40 stamp.

Easiest way to do a table is to use Excel spreadsheet and then copy and paste into the text box. Might have to play with the column width in Excel to make sure the cells do not truncate.

Gary
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[John C.]

Re: Mid Year Orange 1956 Corvette Motor?

Hi Gary,

Ok, thank you so much, you have all been very kind!

BTW, is there an online place to access all of the wonderful Mike Hunt information?

John

[Gary C.]

Re: Mid Year Orange 1956 Corvette Motor?

John,

Ed McComas and I scanned and posted the ones we had a while back to this forum.

Do a search of this forum for "Mike Hunt" and/or "Michael Hunt" separately and you should come up with them.

Gary
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[John C.]

Re: Mid Year Orange 1956 Corvette Motor?

Gary,

Great, thanks again!

John

[Edward M.]

Re: Mid Year Orange 1956 Corvette Motor?

Here is a bit more info for correlations between engine sequence and date codesVIN Engine Sequence # Engine Suffix Code Block Casting Date1109 0115112 F56FG K 19 51277 0310849 F56FG B 8 61417 0325244 F56FG B 13 61479 0342239 F56FG B 23 61490 0332616 F56FG B 20 61545 0336982 F56GR A 31 61707 0377104 F56FG C 12 62279 0453647 F56GR C 19 6

[John C.]

Re: Mid Year Orange 1956 Corvette Motor?

Ed,

Thanks so much for the additional data.....I tried to organize the numbers as best I could so my head wouldn't explode!

VIN -- Engine Sequence # -- Engine Suffix Code -- Block Casting Date


1109 - 0115112 - F56FG - K195


1277 - 0310849 - F56FG - B86


1417 - 0325244 - F56FG - B136


1479 - 0342239 - F56FG - B236


1490 - 0332616 - F56FG - B206


1545 - 0336982 - F56GR - A316


1707 - 0377104 - F56FG - C126


2279 - 0453647 - F56GR - C196

John

[Gary C.]

Re: Mid Year Orange 1956 Corvette Motor?

John, Ed McComas found the Mike Hunt article on 1957 VIN, Engines, etc. and scanned it - article attached

[John C.]

Re: Mid Year Orange 1956 Corvette Motor?

John, Ed McComas found the Mike Hunt article on 1957 VIN, Engines, etc. and scanned it - article attached

Great....thanks so much Gary!

John

[Stuart F.]

Re: Mid Year Orange 1956 Corvette Motor?

Nice to read about 56 posts. I had one that was one of my favorite cars; it was black, nosed and decked with the rear fender slant trim also removed. It had cut coils in front and 2" blocks in the rear with station wagon springs for a lowered slight rake. It had chrome reversed 14" wheels with the first U. S. Royal inch wall tires, and a full 57 Bel Air (black and silver) interior as well as a 58 Corvette Fuelie engine backed by a 3 speed from a 58 Chevy (with a 56 tail shaft). I had more fun with that car than any other I ever owned (girls included).

And yes, I painted the 58 Corvette engine gloss red. I mounted the 58 Fuelie air cleaner in the area in front of and to the side of the radiator by cutting a large hole in the triangular side panel for the air inlet hose to pass through (cold air induction). I did this all in 1958 too, so I was way ahead of the times.

Enjoy your tri five. The 56 was the best (I had one of each). The 57 was not designed right, I. E. The clutch linkage bracket under the dash broke on the one I had and raced. I first used a B & B clutch with white springs so when you pushed on the clutch pedal the dashboard would twist slightly. They really messed up the cowl design just to have the slightly bigger windshield. You could not even remove the heater box without bending over it's mounting flange corner to clear a firewall strut on the passenger side.

Enough on tri fives. I did love them almost as much as my Vette though.

Stu Fox

[John C.]

Re: Mid Year Orange 1956 Corvette Motor?

Hi Stuart,


Yes, it sounds like your '56 was very advanced for the time period....do you happen to have any photos of it and do you remember what you paid for the '58 fuelie motor?


The '56 was also my favorite tri-five. I was going to build a hotrod, but ended up with a stocker because my friends were going to kill me if I modified it........I had a Newman chassis ready to go and then I changed my mind. I don't even like stockers...wanted a car that handled and had brakes!


So, anyway....I sold it....here is my car and its new owner in Texas:

http://youtu.be/O1yeRb8cYmo

BTW, you don't have to believe everything he says about it and I just found out that I'm a "professional restoration company"! ;-)


John

[Stuart F.]

Re: Mid Year Orange 1956 Corvette Motor?

John;

Nice video. Thanks for posting. Love the looks of the 56.

Wish I had more photos of my old cars, but I didn't get into photography until a few years later in the army. My 58 Fuelie engine came from a friend who had bought a new 58 Vette and raced it at our local drag strip most every Sunday. He was a local Restaurant owner and had a lot of disposable income (Ha!). He wanted more power so bought a new 59 Pontiac 389 crate engine with tri-power (no substitute for cubic engines). I spent a lot of time with him installing the Poncho so, as part of the deal he gave me the 58 engine for something like $150 bucks. I first installed it in my 50 Chevy coupe as the third Chevy V8 engine for that car. I sold the engine out it which was a 56 Corvette engine with tri-power for the same amount of money so it was a wash. I then traded cars (less engines) for the 56 "210 two door". The 3 speed tranny I got with that car was in bad shape, so I bought a new 3 speed from my local Chevy dealer parts department and then had to marry the two together as the tail shafts are of different lengths. The newer transmission had a taller first gear which made for a better wind out pull for the 58 engine.

Thanks for the chance to walk down memory lane.

Stu Fox

[John C.]

Re: Mid Year Orange 1956 Corvette Motor?

Great story Stu....thanks man!

John