JohnZ

Actually, all of the C2 frames were made by A.O. Smith in their frame plant across the river from St. Louis in Granite City, Illinois; C1 and C3 frames were made in the A.O. Smith frame plant in Milwaukee.

NightshiftHD

John, thanks for straightening me out on that. Just goes to show you can not believe all the stuff in Nolan Adam's book "The Complete Corvette Restoration & Technical Guide - Vol. 2 (1963-1967). This is the 2nd error I've learned of ... with this frame error on page 27 as it relates to C2's. Cheers, Bill

jimgessner

I remember when HUNTLEY / BRINKLEY, WALTER CRONKITE and PETER JENNINGS were all ''perfect''. Internet and social media has sure changed all that history.

Considering it was 1986 when Noland wrote the VOL 2 RESTORATION book, it has endured the test of time to help explain the history of the car.

A new young buyer today (40-50) wants 50 years of history in 20 minutes or less. I just helped a fellow buy his first C-2. He left Northern California late Sunday, had breakfast with me in So. Cal Monday, inspected a car in Phoenix on Monday evening, drove to New Mexico and inspected a car on Tuesday., 1000 miles back to Kingman, AZ for the night.Wednesday he stopped in Turlock, close to Fresno and re-inspected the car he looked at 10 days ago. Yesterday, he bought it.

He wanted Noland's book but everyone was sold out.

The ''beat goes on....Save The Wave''

NightshiftHD

That is certainly true Jim. And they want that response to their question about 50 years of history within 3 minutes of requesting it! Because we're all supposed to carry our eDevices with us 24-7. Drives me nuts. Bill

Early 63 Corvette

I know this post is from last year but maybe someone is still paying attention. I have an early 63. Production date Sep. 20th 1962. When I used a trim tag decoder, it came up as having an A.O. Smith body. So I did some research and found an article that states a few ways to spot a smith body. One of them was the use of green zinc chromate primer on the bird cage. This car has green primer. Is it possible A.O.Smith produced some of the bodies as part of the proposal for Corvette? Mine is production number 265.

tuxnharley

According to Noland Adams book, AO Smith bodies did not begin production until the 1964 model year. Prior to that the Ionia MI plant was used to produce full size station wagon bodies for Buick and Oldsmobile.

What does your trim tag read on the line for body? There should not be any designator there for an assembly plant, only a number of the production sequence.

What "decoder" are you using? I believe it to be incorrect, as there were no A O Smith bodies on 63 Corvettes as far as I know.

Early 63 Corvette

http://www.stl-vettes.com/65Vette/tr...ag_display.htm If I use this decoder it will not let me select a smith body once I choose 63.

http://www.stlouisncrs.org/vin_calculator.htm If I use this site, and I use 912A for the paint code it says Body Source A.O. Smith. If I delete the A it says body source invalid. I can't figure out what the A stands for in this code.

Body code is 140
Paint is 912A
Trim is 490B
Style is 63 867

Tag starts off with A3

out2kayak

Thanks! Here is one for Chevelle's, GTO's, Impala's, etc.:

http://datatagdecoder.com/_beta/form.html



-- Joe

tuxnharley

A3 means the body was built on Sept 3, 1962

912A means the paint was silver blue, and had no restrictions on options it could be used with. The A here does NOT mean it is an A O Smith body. That designator only appeared in 1964 onward, and was in front of the body sequence #, not after the paint code.

490B means the interior was dark blue vinyl on a convertible.

140 means it was the 140th convertible body produced, which fits well with an overall production sequence of #265.

Early 63 Corvette

I thought A3 meant the third week of September? One decoder said september 20th and the other said September 19th. So i was pretty sure at least the third week was right, lol. It's crazy all the misinformation out there. How many books do I need to have the right information?

packrat

1963 trim tags are coded differently. A3 will be Sept Third Week. Why not buy the 1963/64 NCRS Judging Guide.

Early 63 Corvette

I will buy the guide. I got the black book and the assembly book. I will get this one next. Thanks for the info.

orlandjoe

Ran my 1966 vin tags and the came out correct.

dahogan

I ran my 1966 coupe numbers and it came out correct

Early 63 Corvette

I joined the NCRS and i bought the judging guide. I believe I also want to buy the Nolan Adams book but on the NCRS sight all they have is a dvd.

Numbers History and Documentation DVD. Can you confirm this is what I need? Thanks for the help. I want to do this right.

christian santos

Hi i want to know where i can find a webiste that i put the chevrolet corvette C2 vin number and give me the identification of the corvette about motor,paint interior color

63driver

What you are looking for does not exist. If it did there would many unhappy FI, 396 and 427 owners. Just think how many school buses would have their original 427 engines.

gbvette62

The VIN number won't tell you anything except the model year (first digit in 63-64, sixth digit in 65-67), the assembly plant (S for St. Louis) and the body style (67 for convertibles & 37 for coupes). Next to your VIN tag should be a Trim Tag that will have codes that identify the original paint and interior colors, along with a date code to identify when the body was assembled. VIN numbers didn't include an engine identifier until 1972, and unlike some other GM cars, Corvette Trim Tags never identified the engine.

There are a number of Trim Tag decoders on line, or you can post a picture of your trim tag, or the info on it here, and someone will be able to decode it for you.

Welcome to the Forum!

MOXIE62

Link does not work on my computer.

63driver

I think that was the birthday calculator.... Try.... https://www.c2registry.org/