Pad Date Number 9

[Wayne M.]

Re: Pad Date Number 9

Joel....................I think I have successfully attached the picture of my pad.

GM

George, others --- FWIW, here's the pad off a car that is 198 VINs later than yours. This is an unrestored motor that hasn't turned a crank since 1973.

[Gary S.]

Re: 65 Stamp Pads

I'm no Al Grenning, but have lots of pictures of real 65 pads. Picked out a few to post. Seems the center of the VIN stamp is typically slightly south of the east/west center line.

[Gary S.]

Re: 65 Engine Stamp "180" Cast Towawanda Block

Will throw this in too...an original 65 365 HP motor stamp on a "180" cast Tonawanda block on a car I use to own. Note position of VIN stamp on this shorter pad.

[Dick W.]

Re: Pad Date Number 9

I think that instructions from stamping were simple...OTPS on the pad somewhere

[Mark P.]

Re: Pad Date Number 9

Do you think others that judge George's pad could be convinced the placement is acceptable if George has pictures of some of the various placement on small block 65's ? A couple of the examples are pretty close to George's. His could have been stamped on a really good day at the plant where the stamper tried real hard to get them straight, huh ?

Getting pictures from Bowtie and Duntov cars could also be helpful.

I have saw several examples in Tahoe and San Jose where the owners were able to argue a position and got their points back. One was on a damaged pad that the owner successfully argued was an original pad and he got all the points back.

[Joel F.]

Re: 65 Engine Stamp "180" Cast Towawanda Block

Will throw this in too...an original 65 365 HP motor stamp on a "180" cast Tonawanda block on a car I use to own. Note position of VIN stamp on this shorter pad.

Gary,

Do you know how a Tonawanda small block could have made it's way into a Corvette? Was there a problem at Flint at that time?

Thanks!
Joel

[Terry M.]

Re: 65 Engine Stamp "180" Cast Towawanda Block

Gary,

Do you know how a Tonawanda small block could have made it's way into a Corvette? Was there a problem at Flint at that time?

Thanks!
Joel

Us early C3 folks get a Tonawanda small block (casting number 3940014) in some 1969 to 1972 Corvettes, and I had Marvin Burnett ask me about that casting number at one meet back when I was 1970-72 NTL. I'm not sure what year Corvette it was in, but it probably was a 1973 to 1977.

The story from Flint is that occasionally they would push through the Flint Engine Assembly line some Tonawanda cast cylinder cases to be sure the tooling would work with either case. They wanted to be prepared in the event something went wrong with Saginaw case production that Flint could continue engine production using Tonawanda cast cases.

I wouldn't be surprised to occasionally find a Tonawanda cast cylinder case in any year Corvette. It would be a guess on my part, but they probably sent some Saginaw cast cylinder cases to Tonawanda for their engine assembly line. This is just another of those "never say never" Corvette situations.

[Joel F.]

Re: Pad Date Number 9

Great explanation Terry, thanks!