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I'm helping a friend prep his 61 C1 for sale and am not a Corvette guy. We are trying to determine if the engine stamping makes it a numbers matching car, but the stamping looks funky. Can any of you experts confirm what a previous owner did? i.e. Is the engine from a different year/model car? If so what donor car? Photos of steering column VIN plate and engine stamping below.
From: Middle TN by way of KY, OH, VA, IL, CA, FL, NY, SC, HI
A few bad signs there, starting with the tie-wrapped vs OEM spot welds on the VIN tag. Going to be very hard to explain.
Second, the VIN derivative appears to be an overstamp (but maybe is an engine assembly error in stamping?). But the stamp pad appears to have nice broach marks - that's a positive.
The date code for the engine March 6, matches the VIN range (#6889 '61 Corvette was built the end of March '61)
The DG is a correct code for a 283 Cu in 270 HP automatic tranny engine. What engine is it built to?
The biggest problem is the detached VIN tag. You might be able to explain away the VIN derivative stamp on the engine but you'll need an expert to do so, and I'm not one of them.
Anybody know if 61's had VIN stamps anywhere else, like on the frame (doubt it)?
Last edited by Easy Rhino; Jun 30, 2020 at 11:49 AM.
Reason: Corrections
The ziptie is holding electrical wiring to the column (wiring not visible in photo), I don't think it's actually holding the vin plate to column.
Does anyone have a photo of what factory rivets should look like? Is there a 2nd VIN anywhere on the car? Car currently has a 4 speed Muncie. Not sure how to determine the factory configuration. Is there a way to order a build sheet? Sorry for all the newbie questions.
Smart to secure Vin tag to steering column. When the spot welds give up, the tag will likely drop onto
the highway never to be seen again.
.
Originally Posted by Paul Guzyk
I'm helping a friend prep his 61 C1 for sale and am not a Corvette guy. We are trying to determine if the engine stamping makes it a numbers matching car, but the stamping looks funky. Can any of you experts confirm what a previous owner did? i.e. Is the engine from a different year/model car? If so what donor car? Photos of steering column VIN plate and engine stamping below.
Lots of bad info on Internet which you will have to decipher. There are NO OEM rivets on a 61 column, only spot welds. I recommend your friend just offer the car for sale at a price he likes and is comfortable with.
You will spend a lot of time and headache for little benefit. Don’t confuse Matching Numbers with Original, the terms don’t mean the same thing.
Looks like an honest old engine pad with an oops on the VIN stamp in my opinion.
Agree... the only thing I would do different is add another zip tie to the other end of the VIN tag. Spot welding the tag to the steering column is perhaps one of the stupidest things the General ever did. Tags located here are notorious for falling off due to road vibrations.
Looks like an honest old engine pad with an oops on the VIN stamp in my opinion.
I agree - but aren’t there actually 2 “oopses” in the VIN stamp - a 4 over the 6 ( yikes, the first stamp 666 would have made me want to redo it too!) and a 6 over the 0? Maybe it was a “Monday morning car” where a couple characters in the stamp die got transposed on the first attempt?
Last edited by tuxnharley; Jun 30, 2020 at 11:57 AM.
Looks like an honest old engine pad with an oops on the VIN stamp in my opinion.
And nothing wrong with the VIN plate and the way it's attached, either. Other than the zip tie (which is too loose to hold the plate on), the VIN plate and it's spot welds are factory issue and un-messed with. No worries.
I agree - but aren’t there actually 2 “oopses” in the VIN stamp - a 4 over the 6 ( yikes, the first stamp 666 would have made me want to redo it too!) and a 6 over the 0? Maybe it was a “Monday morning car” where a couple characters in the stamp die got transposed on the first attempt?
as a conversation:
How much luck would it take to find a engine block with all but two of the numbers matching?
The engine is a 1961, 230 hp, single four barrel, powerglide in a Corvette.
The engine pad looks totally honest to me. Overstamps are not that uncommon, I had a 73 convertible that has the last digit of the VIN derivative overstamped on both the engine pad and the transmission.
If you look carefully at the VIN derivative, there is some symmetry to it:
I "think" there are three characters overstamped here. The original stamp had 8 characters in it, with an extra 0. The corrected stamp had the correct seven characters, deleting the extra 0.
The fourth character went from a 0 to a 6.
The fifth character remained a 6
The sixth character went from a 6 to a 4
The seventh character went from a 4 to a 1
That left the original 1 in the eight character position.
I am sort of guessing at the seventh character overstamp, but it makes sense.
In any event, the pad looks fine to me, and original to the car.
If the OP / owner knows someone that can spot weld really well, he might try to have the VIN tag broken spot weld repaired. But I would make sure the welder was VERY experienced at this sort of work first.
One of my dear friends, the late Dale Pearman, often suggested that the owners of later 1960, 1961, and 1962 Corvettes use a coupe of worm drive clamps on the top and bottom of the VIN tag to hold it in place.
To me, it looks like the spot welds on the VIN tag are just fine and do not need to be monkeyed with. As stated by the OP, the zip tie is there to hold a wire in place, not the VIN tag.....
A few bad signs there, starting with the tie-wrapped vs OEM spot welds on the VIN tag. Going to be very hard to explain.
Second, the VIN derivative appears to be an overstamp (but maybe is an engine assembly error in stamping?). But the stamp pad appears to have nice broach marks - that's a positive.
The date code for the engine March 6, matches the VIN range (#6889 '61 Corvette was built the end of March '61)
The DG is a correct code for a 283 Cu in 270 HP automatic tranny engine. What engine is it built to?
The biggest problem is the detached VIN tag. You might be able to explain away the VIN derivative stamp on the engine but you'll need an expert to do so, and I'm not one of them.
Anybody know if 61's had VIN stamps anywhere else, like on the frame (doubt it)?
No 270 hp cars with an automatic.
Last edited by Dan Hampton; Jun 30, 2020 at 06:25 PM.
Seems like lately those dad gum stampers back in the '60s were pretty sloppy. The older the cars get the more of them that show up. probably just a coincidence.
To me, it looks like the spot welds on the VIN tag are just fine and do not need to be monkeyed with. As stated by the OP, the zip tie is there to hold a wire in place, not the VIN tag.....
I was wondering if anybody actually read the op's posts or just started answering unasked questions.
Funky 61 engine stamping, need help deciphering
