Powershift

I may be going out on a limb...........BUT.........if the suffix letters indicate K19 with AC/PS and the VIN derivative is correct and looks proper, and the engine casting number and casting date are correct (all can be seen without much issue) I believe the engine will be original to the car. I would eventually ask for paint to be removed from the pad, but probably not before I was ready to pay the seller. I would then make it a requirement for the sale.

Larry

Nowhere Man

Most people paint the pad so it doesn’t rust.

Powershift

It says something about CAUTION and about RPM. Not a builder's sticker.

Larry

A-Snake

Larry, I think that is good advise.

CADbrian

Good eye tuxnharley. It reads something like "CAUTION - SHARP EDGES", "MAX RATED RPM 4,000", "PART NO. "

Do any of you guys have this label on your blocks?

CADbrian

CADbrian

I can totally understand this. Can also see doing this myself for the reason you mentioned.

CADbrian

Larry, are you saying that it's not a sticker that GM puts on the block? Or are you saying that it's not a sticker that was put on the block by the engine rebuilder?

Nowhere Man

what ever it is its not OEM

856666

I think the sticker is on the fan blade - and would make sense at 4000 RPM

Phil

Powershift

Someone put it on..............but not GM. Seems odd to limit RPM to 4000, when these cars can clearly be (or should be able to be) operated at 5000 + RPM. Perhaps something unique with a replacement part?? There is a LOT of stuff hanging off the front of that engine.

Larry

CADbrian

UPDATE (from the seller):


"My friend came over last night to check out the car. The car is no longer available. Probably worked out for the better. With the distance involved and costs associated with coming out or having a NCRS Judge come to me place you would have a lot in it before you even got to the purchasing it. I wouldn't have been happy with a NCRS type on my property, I despise them.

You have some very strict criteria for the car you want to purchase. I am confident that car is out there. It is just going to take some searching..."

tuxnharley

Wow- with an attitude like that expressed by the seller I would say you are better off looking elsewhere for the car you want. Best wishes in your search!

CADbrian

There is a lot of information that I didn't share here because it was superfluous. At the time I contacted the seller (asking if he'd consider selling his car), the seller hadn't put the car up for sale and was perhaps just starting to think about selling it because as the prospective seller put it, "Actually, I have started to think about selling it. It sits in the garage getting dusty. I haven't driven it in a couple of years," and he proclaimed himself as "an un-motivated seller".

Now, the fact that the car hadn't been driven in a couple of years obviously concerned me but I thought the worst case scenario was I'd have to replace a bunch of gaskets and seals. Not a deal breaker for me. Keep going.

Right from the beginning I had requested 3 fundamental pictures: the VIN tag, trim tag, and engine pad stamp. Pretty basic information I think, and not too difficult to obtain, although the engine pad stamp (as you can tell from the pictures above) was difficult (but in my opinion not impossible) to see and/or photograph. All I ever received from the prospective seller was a picture of the trim tag, which as you know, is just to the left of the VIN tag, but I never received a picture of the VIN tag. Who knows why. And I also never received a picture of the engine pad stamp, just a partial, which, if you've been following along in this saga was painted, which again, if you've been following along in this saga is another reason to question the authenticity of the drive train.

As far as I can tell (from what I've been told by the seller), the car may have been driven (from the time of delivery to the dealership) by a dealership executive for a while before the first buyer took possession of the car. Someone at some point did modify the car's exhaust from N11 off road exhaust (stock/OEM) to the side pipe style. It was an AO Smith car. This prospective seller told me that the initial owner told him that adding the side pipes was done by the dealer and "was not something he [the initial owner] did in the 40 years he owned it."

As you know, I never got confirmation (pictures) that the car was numbers matching.
I suspect that the car currently does not run (hasn't been driven "in a couple of years"). Is "a couple of years" really 2 years, or more like 5 or 10 years???
Never got a description of how the car ran before he parked it for a couple of years. Did it run well? Or were there “issues”? Does it blow smoke? Does it idle properly? Does it overheat?
Never got a description of how the a/c worked. Did it work at all? Did it need to be repaired (expensive venture)?
I would have wanted to return the car's exhaust back to the original style and a well informed friend told me that using NOS parts would have cost at least $3,000 to do so.
Never got any photos of the documentation he proclaimed to have.
Never got any current pictures of the car at all. No exterior photos. No interior photos. No photos of the engine bay. Is it in bad shape? Does it look tired? How is its stance? Are the suspension springs shot?


I wanted to proceed with the seller through all the bases in a logical chronological sequence but all I got from the seller was a picture of the trim tag (part of 1st base) and the price he wanted for the car (3rd base), without any kind of idea as to what condition the car was in, without any idea of the car was numbers matching or not. I didn't have a problem with his price. I just didn't know what I was getting. His price could have been $100,000 and that may have been a fair value if only I knew what the car was. His price could have been $50,000, and that too may have been a fair value if only I knew what the car was. I may never know.

It's too bad as we (my 13 year old son and I) would have given it a good home.

CADbrian