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Guys, I am excited to be part of your group. I am now in a position in life where I can buy my first Corvette, and like many of you I love the '67 Stingray.
There is one for sale on Hemmings - Marina Blue/L68 motor, black leather interior, and power windows.
I have been working with the owner the past couple of days to to insure it has the correct motor components. Everything checks out from the carbs to the heads.
I got the trim tag from him yesterday, and immediately noticed the STD for interior, so the car should have standard black vinyl and not leather. I want to make sure I am looking at the tag correctly, and am asking for your help. I have included a pic of the Trim Tag below.
He does not have the Tank Sticker, so how can I determine what options the car came with? He did include the Protect-o-Plate, which I cannot read. I have included a pic of it below. Thanks for any help you can give!
Here's some more help:
976 - Marina Blue paint, STD - black vinyl interior, VIN 19437S115406 (approximate birthday for that VIN is April 3, 1967), engine assembly stamp TO323JCH which is Tonawanda plant March 23, 1967 with suffix JC = 400HP 427 L36 engine with 3x2 carbs and 4 speed, the H is for Holley carb(s). AT0328W is the differential stamp, big block 3.08:1 built March 28, 1967 at the Warren Plant. The transmission stamp is P = Muncie, 7 = 1967, C17 = March 17 and D suffix I dunno, may be Day Shift designation, someone here will know
All big-blocks on all car lines were affected by the Engineering Change that reduced the advertised power rating; the L-36 was reduced from 400hp to 390hp, but no L-36's left St. Louis with 400hp stickers - the 390hp stickers got there just before production started. There were no changes to any of the engines - only the stickers changed.
All big-blocks on all car lines were affected by the Engineering Change that reduced the advertised power rating; the L-36 was reduced from 400hp to 390hp, but no L-36's left St. Louis with 400hp stickers - the 390hp stickers got there just before production started. There were no changes to any of the engines - only the stickers changed.
If this refers to my brain fart above (typed L36 when I meant to type L68) then yes, OOPS, my mistake. The JC designation is for L68 (400HP) not for L36 (390HP)
Guys, thanks for all of the great information. The interior switch from vinyl to leather sent up a red flag for me.
I take it after going through 3Mar67's link that this car is suspect. I am trying to get the Tank Tag from the owner to see what options the car is supposed to have. And I agree that it is probably overpriced although I am not the expert here...
I think I will probably pass on the car. Thanks to all...
Doing the resto process it's common to use leather seat covers instead of standard vinyl seat covers. If you look at the numbers leather is rare option. To most it's no big deal or not a deal breaker. The big thing is to get the POP validated as real GM issued tag. I wouldn't bank on the tank sticker and besides if you can't prove it came with the car it's not helping.
Doing the resto process it's common to use leather seat covers instead of standard vinyl seat covers. If you look at the numbers leather is rare option. To most it's no big deal or not a deal breaker. edit
Doing the resto process it's common to use leather seat covers instead of standard vinyl seat covers. If you look at the numbers leather is rare option. To most it's no big deal or not a deal breaker. The big thing is to get the POP validated as real GM issued tag. I wouldn't bank on the tank sticker and besides if you can't prove it came with the car it's not helping.
The build sheet and trim tags have been available for a long time and with all of the info available on the web and in print they are now very hard to determine if they are original or not. People are much better today at making an original small block car look like a real big block car as all of parts and telltale signs are known and available. There are many cars out there that have been "made" passed and still no one knows. The only way to determine if a car was born as represented is if there is some kind of iron clad documentation back to day one which gets harder and harder to find as these cars get older and people die off.
They are advertised as matching numbers which is true but that does not necessarily mean they were born that way. The auction houses hype them as such but they all have disclaimers that protect them if it is later determined the car was not born as it is today. Most of the big buyers are savvy to all of this and more and more it seems they don't care and buy what they like just based on the general appearance of the car.
It is only on hobbyist specific sites like this that the members are sometimes purist and get upset and try to play detectives to figure out (if the can) what something really is. EVERYONE can be fooled at some point.
If this refers to my brain fart above (typed L36 when I meant to type L68) then yes, OOPS, my mistake. The JC designation is for L68 (400HP) not for L36 (390HP)
It didn't refer to that at all. I just thought it was interesting that the JC designation shows 400hp in some charts and 390 in others. I don't even know which the original car in question is now.
It didn't refer to that at all. I just thought it was interesting that the JC designation shows 400hp in some charts and 390 in others. I don't even know which the original car in question is now.
as fair as GM was concerned the L36 (427/390) and L68 (427/400) was the same engine. when you ordered the 400 car the L36 was entered in the system and the L68 was added to it as a 390 to 400 conversion. the only difference was the intake, carb, air cleaner, and the parts that went along with it
The build sheet and trim tags have been available for a long time...
The build sheet detail per car (options, etc.) has never been available; if you're lucky enough to have the build sheet (tank sticker), only NCRS can link it directly to any car's VIN.
A $125K vette is an impressive "first vette" so congrats on having the coin to be able to spend that with ease. IMHO any vette selling at that level should come with a long history verifying it's provenance.
Doing the resto process it's common to use leather seat covers instead of standard vinyl seat covers. If you look at the numbers leather is rare option. To most it's no big deal or not a deal breaker. The big thing is to get the POP validated as real GM issued tag. I wouldn't bank on the tank sticker and besides if you can't prove it came with the car it's not helping.
If everything else checks out and the car is otherwise honest and legitimate, the leather seats would not stop me from buying the car for a second. Some consider the swap to leather from original vinyl to be an upgrade but if you are going to go the judging route or if you for some reason prefer vinyl, you can swap back to vinyl for $458 from Al Knoch. That's peanuts compared to the price you're going to be paying for the car. Even if you're going to have your car judged, the swap from vinyl to leather may not be a huge deduction. Maybe someone else can jump in with definitive information on that.
Use the incorrect seat covers as a bargaining point to help get the price down.
Too bad your seats aren't teal. If they were, I'd buy them from you in a heartbeat. I want to swap out the teal vinyl seats in my '67 for leather and have had them on backorder with Al Knoch since February because he's trying to find a new supplier for teal leather.
The build sheet detail per car (options, etc.) has never been available; if you're lucky enough to have the build sheet (tank sticker), only NCRS can link it directly to any car's VIN.
My comment regarding the build sheet is not specific to this car but rather a general comment for the hobby. Every time a build sheet is shown on line you can bet there is a forger collecting the add to their info to make a sheet.
I don't like to be negative but every time I see someone asking online for help verifying a car it just reminds me of what has happened to this hobby.
05-16-2017, 01:38 PM
Newbie with questions about a '67 Vette
I THOUGHT that was a very familiar plate 
If everything else checks out and the car is otherwise honest and legitimate, the leather seats would not stop me from buying the car for a second. Some consider the swap to leather from original vinyl to be an upgrade but if you are going to go the judging route or if you for some reason prefer vinyl, you can swap back to vinyl for $458 from Al Knoch. That's peanuts compared to the price you're going to be paying for the car. Even if you're going to have your car judged, the swap from vinyl to leather may not be a huge deduction. Maybe someone else can jump in with definitive information on that.