Fuelie Dave

Hi all;

An interesting question came up today from a friend of mine. He asked me if I had ever heard of a VIN on a 1960 Corvette containing a P. He said the VIN on his car was 00867S1P8135 and it was stamped on the aluminum VIN tag on the steering column as well as the title. As the car was made in May of '60 the tag on the column is correct and he said it was spot welded on, not screwed. The stamping is VERY plain and legible, in other words it is not an 8 with missing parts. Don't know anything about the cars history other than what I wrote. Can anyone shed any light on this other than the factory VIN stamper having a 5 beer lunch back then?

Fuelie Dave

Frankie the Fink

Doesn't sound right:

1960-1964: First digit indicates last digit of model year. (1963-64) Fourth digit "6" indicates coupe, "3" indicates convertible; "S" (sixth character) indicates St. Louis assembly plant; followed by a six-digit build sequence number.

Unless it was just some screw-up on the line by the guy punching the numbers onto the car. There should be an add'l VIN located on the frame that can verify the numbers. Others can tell you where it is....not sure I remember exactly...

Vet65te

Fuelie Dave, have you seen the tag yourself? Those tags were stainless steel, not aluminum, and I suppose anything is possible but if your buddy's VIN is in the 8,000 range they only made about 10,200 in 1960, then that character just ahead of the '8' should have been a zero. Any chance of getting a pic of it?
And what does the VIN number look like on the vehicle's title/paperwork?
Mike T.

wmf62

supposedly right under your wallet (an appropriate location...) on the top of the driver's side frame rail..
Bill

emccomas

A May 1960 car should also have the VIN stamped on the engine pad. Any chance the car still has it's original engine?

Strange things have happened with VIN tags and engine stamps. The 'P' should be a '0' (zero).

Frankie the Fink

1957 & Later: Beginning with 1957, continuous engine serial numbering was discounted. Engines were prefixed with a source designation ("F" for 1955-66 Flint small blocks; "V" for 1967 and later Flint small blocks; and "T" for 1965 and later Tonawanda, New York, big blocks); followed by three of four digits representing the date of manufacture [first one or two digits representing the month("1" through "12" used 1957-59; "01" through "12" used beginning sometime in 1960; the last two digits representing the date of the month ("01 through "31"")]; ending with the engine type suffix code as indicated in the Engine Identification Codes section of this Spec Guide. Also, beginning sometime during 1960, a VIN derivative stamping was added to the engine pad, mating the engine to the vehicle in which it was installed.

A strict reading of this last sentence seems to indicate that some early '60s vettes may not have the serial number on the engine pad..

1snake

They started stamping the VIN on the engine pad with approx. car #1600.

Jim

Frankie the Fink

Well assuming the 'P' should be a '0' then this car is way above #1600 and the engine should have the serial number...but it might be an NOM car...OP never said either way...

emccomas

VIN stamping started on 1960 Corvette engines in January of 1960. This, being a May car, should have a VIN stamp on the engine pad.

That was why I made the post that I did.

I am thinking that VIN stamping on the engine occurred about the time that the VIN tag was moved from ther door jam area to the steering column. Early 60 vin tags are aluminum, and the VIN number is embossed. Tag material was changed to stainless steel when the tag was moved to the steering column.

Fuelie Dave

Hi again all;

Thanks for all your comments and thoughts. I will try to get a picture of the tag and title (they are supposed to match) and post it. Yesterday when I posted, I used the term aluminum for the VIN plate on the steering column, however I know it is supposed to be stainless steel, so that was an oversight on my part. I am very familiar with what the vin numbers and letters SHOULD be but this one was just so out of character, I thought it might be a P-Prototype, or P-Pilot line car and thought someone might have some more info on it. Stay tuned to this channel for further updates. Fuelie Dave

1snake

The VIN stamping started in late Nov/early Dec.

Jim

Viking427

..actually several 283 blocks with assembly dates as early as late-October '59 with genuine hand-stamped VINs have turned up through the years, as eye-witnessed by notables such as the late Dale Pearman, Jim Gessner, David Crane ...umm ok, forget that last one

emccomas

Yep, I have my dates wrong. Late October works.

In any event, a May 60 car should have a VIN number on the block, assuming it is the original block.

1snake

That may be true however, you're talking assembly dates on the motor and I'm talking finished assembly dates of the whole car. There could be a 6 month discrepency between the two.

The NCRS states that the VIN stamping started with car #1801 but I have documented that it's almost 200 cars earlier than that.

Jim

Frankie the Fink

All very interesting but what are the chances, really, that some ***'y line puke really banged in a 'P' or mutilated 'R' into the VIN where the serial number should be ?

I'm thinking slim to none...something else is going on....the frame VIN would probably clear it up...

JohnZ

It was rare, but it happened - the zero and the "P" are vertically adjacent to each other on the keyboard, even on the old Addressograph and Graphotype machines St. Louis used. The original title took the VIN from the MSO, not from the car, so it may be legit. Would be interesting to see the frame VIN stamp.

Fuelie Dave

Hi All;

Help Needed. New to your site and don't know how to include a picture along with my message. Fuelie Dave

62Jeff

You can get pictures into your Corvette Forum post by doing the following:
1) Go to www.tinypic.com
2) Upload your photo
3) On the page that appears, copy the text that starts with [IMG] and ends with [/IMG]

4) Paste that text into your Corvette Forum post, to link that photo.

That method works well, but your photos will drop off of TinyPic after a few months if they aren't accessed frequently.

A more permanent method is:
1) Go to www.photobucket.com
2) Create a free photobucket account
3) Create a photo album (not required, but you'll quickly find it's better to have different albums for different types of photos - such as one album for each car you are working on)
4) Upload your photos
5) Copy the text that starts with [IMG] and ends with [/IMG]
6) Paste that text into your Corvette Forum post, to link that photo.

Jeff

Fuelie Dave

Hi All;
I will attempt to send photo of VIN tag on the 1960 with P in the number. Bear with me if it doesn't come through the first time. http://i38.tinypic.com/2S78C4w.jpg

I went to tinypic.com and followed directions.

Fuelie Dave

Let's try again. http://i38.tinypic.com/2s78c4w.jpg

Hope it works this time. Fuelie Dave