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The seller states the following about it, I've never heard of this anyone else ?
"I remember that before I bought the car, I took many pictures of the stamps and castings and I was particularly focused on the engine stamp pad. The stamp was the original and had never been decked or smoothed and restamped. There is however an additional stamp on the Engine Stamp Pad that says "performance clinic" -- which an NCRS judge explained to me was an engine shop that did factory warranty work on Corvettes in the '60's thru '80's. I am 100% confident that this is the original motor that came with this car."
The seller states the following about it, I've never heard of this anyone else ?
"I remember that before I bought the car, I took many pictures of the stamps and castings and I was particularly focused on the engine stamp pad. The stamp was the original and had never been decked or smoothed and restamped. There is however an additional stamp on the Engine Stamp Pad that says "performance clinic" -- which an NCRS judge explained to me was an engine shop that did factory warranty work on Corvettes in the '60's thru '80's. I am 100% confident that this is the original motor that came with this car."
The "Performance Clinic" story is hogwash, from someone's "Little Golden Book Of Flaky Fables". What year is the car? I can't see the 1st digit in the VIN derivative.
The "Performance Clinic" story is hogwash, from someone's "Little Golden Book Of Flaky Fables". What year is the car? I can't see the 1st digit in the VIN derivative.
Is it possible the California Chevrolet Dealership farmed out some of its (warranty) work to a nearby engine rebuilder. Maybe that is what happened here.
Somewhere along the line the engine had some work done by an outside shop. It may or may not have had any ties to Chevrolet.
Engine was rebuilt at some point by the "Performance Clinic", who couldn't resist advertising on the stamp pad; will get a minor deduction for that in judging (if it's ever judged).
The engine in my '61 has the previous owner's name stamped right on top of the engine code in large font capital letters. Also has his name stamped with the same stamp on each clinder head. I think he was worried about it getting stolen. My engine is not the original anyway, so I don't really care. But people did this stuff, and still do, probably. Not everyone was/is concerned with stamp pad numbers....especially back in the day. I had a vintage VW that had RIMCO stamped on the case by the serial number pad....it was a well known LA VW builder in the '70's...and maybe still is, I don't know.
The quote from the seller and the story don't make sense. Ad says it is a California car, CA plates, etc. I did a quick Google, and the only "Performance Clinic" that shows up is located in Dayton, OH. According to their website, they started business in 1976. No mention of being a manufacturer "warranty" shop. Now, it is possible that the engine was sent from California to Ohio for a rebuild at some point, but why would you do that?? Just asking. Or maybe there was another shop with that name, but no mention of them that I could find. Makes you wonder.
The quote from the seller and the story don't make sense. Ad says it is a California car, CA plates, etc. I did a quick Google, and the only "Performance Clinic" that shows up is located in Dayton, OH. According to their website, they started business in 1976. No mention of being a manufacturer "warranty" shop. Now, it is possible that the engine was sent from California to Ohio for a rebuild at some point, but why would you do that?? Just asking. Or maybe there was another shop with that name, but no mention of them that I could find. Makes you wonder.
There may be more than one Performance Clinic. But who knows what has happened in the 50 years this car has been on the street.
Is it me, or does one H look wider than the other on the suffix. Also the zeros look different.
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Very common - happened every day; stamp dies came from seven different suppliers, and were mixed in bins. Nobody paid any attention at all to differences in fonts.
Very common - happened every day; stamp dies came from seven different suppliers, and were mixed in bins. Nobody paid any attention at all to differences in fonts.
It always makes me smile to myself when the claim is "repaired a small dent" in the fender as this guy states. I have also seen many claim "no dents or rust on the body". I have owned 17 Corvettes and have never "dented" one. I guess I didn't ever have one of those rare aluminum bodied ones.
Very common - happened every day; stamp dies came from seven different suppliers, and were mixed in bins. Nobody paid any attention at all to differences in fonts.
I just spit bud light in my lap...a voice of reason. My dad has friends and i have customers who worked in the plant (were from STL). There were standards but for crying out loud, it was crude. Hand built. No computers. Tools thrown everywhere. It was hot. People filled in for others spur of moment. $hit happened. They used bolts from one thing to do another in a pinch. Anybody who thinks these cars all went out the back door just the NCRS book tells you is out of their minds. The stories ive been told. Anything is possible. ANYTHING. Ive been to that plant as a kid. I remember it was crude as heck. They grabbed whatever was there to keep the cars rolling. Including stamping tools. They werent worried about you getting an award 50 years later. Good grief some of this crap just blows my mind.
Ok then you know....it was crude. Even more so than the passenger car plant there. It was basically a hot rod shop in back of the plant. People have no idea. The crap that went on in there was unbelievable. These old birds I know have no reason to lie that sweated in that hell hole. It was rough blue collar union. 2-3 car per hour came thru there if i remember right. It was a very small area of that complex. Like i said. A corporate hot rod shop.
"Performance Clinic" was the super secret Chevrolet engine shop where certain engines were give extra special attention.
This was typically done for press release cars, executive cars, etc. and was not intended to be for engines that were sold to the general public.
These engines were specially balanced and blueprinted, and the parts selected had just a bit more "umpf". Not detectible to the naked eye, but could be measured if the engine was disassembled. Things like ever so slightly more compression for the pistons, ever so slightly more lift for the camshaft, special coatings for friction reduction.
They didn't usually "advertise", so finding one actually marked that way is pretty rare.
Think of if like the Lockheed Skunk Works. You know something really cool is going on behind the closed doors, but they can't tell you want it is.
[*]]"Performance Clinic" was the super secret Chevrolet engine shop where certain engines were give extra special attention.
[*]This was typically done for press release cars, executive cars, etc. and was not intended to be for engines that were sold to the general public.
[*]These engines were specially balanced and blueprinted, and the parts selected had just a bit more "umpf". Not detectible to the naked eye, but could be measured if the engine was disassembled. Things like ever so slightly more compression for the pistons, ever so slightly more lift for the camshaft, special coatings for friction reduction.
[*]They didn't usually "advertise", so finding one actually marked that way[/LIST]is pretty rare.
Think of if like the Lockheed Skunk Works. You know something really cool is going on behind the closed doors, but they can't tell you want it is.
Makes sense to me - we know Pontiac did it all the time for their press cars, right? IIRC it was Jim Wagners who was in charge of that program?
07-30-2015, 03:36 PM
Your thoughts on this engine pad stamping
Or maybe there was another shop with that name, but no mention of them that I could find. Makes you wonder.
