Bell Housing Identification

[Charlie C.]

I am organizing the shop and of course the car parts in it. I want to reunite the original Bell Housing for my '59 with my original motor and three speed transmission, but have found that I have 2 bell housings and do not know which one is right for the car. On the back of the bell housings:
One has "GM2" and 3733365 and above that sideways F277
The other has GM8 , and 3733365 and above that sideways A277 maybe followed by a 9.

The care is a Jan 59 build. Can anyone tell me which bell housing is the original one. Thanks Charlie Campos

[Joe L.]

Re: Bell Housing Identification

I am organizing the shop and of course the car parts in it. I want to reunite the original Bell Housing for my '59 with my original motor and three speed transmission, but have found that I have 2 bell housings and do not know which one is right for the car. On the back of the bell housings:
One has "GM2" and 3733365 and above that sideways F277
The other has GM8 , and 3733365 and above that sideways A277 maybe followed by a 9.

The care is a Jan 59 build. Can anyone tell me which bell housing is the original one. Thanks Charlie Campos

Charlie-----


The one with the "F277" couldn't be right since it was cast on June 27, 1957. If the second one actually is A277 and "maybe followed by a 9", that's some sort of anomaly. If it were actually A279, that would be January 27, 1959 but that would be too late for a January-built 1959 Corvette. So, it might be that neither bellhousing is the original. You better look closer at that second bellhousing to see if you might have the date code wrong.

[Charlie C.]

Re: Bell Housing Identification

Thanks for the input. I looked again and cleaned the casting numbers really well. The casting number for the bell housing that I thnk is the original one for my '59 is 1) A219 or 2) A2/9.
The A is clearly and A.
But the 1 may actually be a slash. it is tilted over quite a bit almost to the point where it looks like a 7 , but it is clearly not a 7 (when comparing to other 7's)
A build date of Jan 2nd 1959 would fit the cars production . So the question is how would GM have stanmped the date of Jan 2nd 1959 . Would they use a slash after the 2? What is the convention?
Thanks Charlie Campos

[Joe L.]

Re: Bell Housing Identification

Thanks for the input. I looked again and cleaned the casting numbers really well. The casting number for the bell housing that I thnk is the original one for my '59 is 1) A219 or 2) A2/9.
The A is clearly and A.
But the 1 may actually be a slash. it is tilted over quite a bit almost to the point where it looks like a 7 , but it is clearly not a 7 (when comparing to other 7's)
A build date of Jan 2nd 1959 would fit the cars production . So the question is how would GM have stanmped the date of Jan 2nd 1959 . Would they use a slash after the 2? What is the convention?
Thanks Charlie Campos

Charlie------


Slash marks were not used. A date of January 2, 1959 would have been coded as A29. However, what you found could have been some sort of "aberration". The "slash" might also be a "1" and, thus, the code would be A219 for January 21, 1959. Would that date fit the car's build date?

[Charlie C.]

Re: Bell Housing Identification

A Bellhousing date of Jan 21 would probably work for the car as it is actually a Feb build per Noland Adams book. The car is serial # 104191. 103962 is last serial # for Jan 1959, 104921 is last for Feb 1959 for a total of 959 cars built in Feb '59. I would guess my car was built around the begining of 2nd week of Feb so a Jan 21st Bellhousing date looks OK .
Thanks

[Joe L.]

Re: Bell Housing Identification

A Bellhousing date of Jan 21 would probably work for the car as it is actually a Feb build per Noland Adams book. The car is serial # 104191. 103962 is last serial # for Jan 1959, 104921 is last for Feb 1959 for a total of 959 cars built in Feb '59. I would guess my car was built around the begining of 2nd week of Feb so a Jan 21st Bellhousing date looks OK .
Thanks

Charlie-----

That's the answer. What appears to be a "slash" mark is actually a "1". I call these a "lazy 1" and they are not uncommon in casting marks.