Looking for feedback from someone here with real NCRS expertise. I find many examples of 63 VIN plates with two different style of font for the "CHEVROLET" type. The following are a couple of sample pics showing the difference, and there are more within this linked thread: 63 C2 spot welded Vin tag - CorvetteForum - Chevrolet Corvette Forum Discussion




Can anyone confirm why there is a difference? Before someone pops off that one is fake, there are tons of pictures of VIN plates on this forum and around the internet with about a 50/50 split of fonts; so unless half of all C2's are fakes, that's not the answer. I also don't pick up any particular pattern in the VINs; the two seem to be pretty well mixed together.

Thanks.

 

Not seeing a difference.

 

It looks to me like the gap between E and V is different. And the letters in the top one seem to have a little more wiggle in them.

 

I see a different angle and a different lighting. I don't see a difference in font.

 

The most noticeable differences are the V and O. Once you see it, you can't un-see it.

 

I can see the difference in the "O" and the serial number on the second plate is offset compared to the first plate, which is more centered.

 

Big difference in the letter "C".

 

I also see some differences however in regard to your question, "Why?" I don't know. The best person on this forum to answer that question is probably "rsinor." There is a book you can buy from the NCRS site written specifically about how to identify real vs fake tags and all the differences. He is the author of that book or maybe co-author. If he doesn't comment on the post you can search him in the member list and send him a message.

Assuming that both are real my guess would be that the process they used then was much more variable than the processes used today so it might be from different shifts or maybe AO Smith bodies vs. St. Louis bodies. But I'm only guessing.

 

Thanks for that reference. I'll try to find & contact him.

I also thought about that AO Smith vs. St. Louis difference, but then I thought that they probably didn't assign a VIN until the AO Smith bodies got to St. Louis and entered production. Two different VIN stamping machines maybe???

 

All VIN plates were attached in St Louis. AOS did not start producing bodies until January 1964.

I would need to see more VIN plates along side of the two pics to make any real determination, but the top pic does not look "factory" to me. Al Grenning would be able to tell, as he has many many pics. But you can also search on the web and get lots of pics as well.

Larry

 

Lots of filing and painting been going on under that top one.

 

As I noted in the original post, a quick Google search for "63 Corvette VIN plate" generates a good sample of pictures, and without counting, I took away from it that they were about 50/50. I also included a link to another forum thread discussing the spot weld variation. Not the same question, but it ends up showing numerous tags...same mix. To say that one is right and one is wrong is too easy of an answer. About half of all of our cars would have to be fakes, which is absurd to think.

FWIW...this has come up because I have someone trying to question the validity of my VIN plate, which to me is obviously original to the car. I'm not saying which of the two examples mine resembles because I don't want to pollute this discussion and resolution. We should all take interest though, because one day it may be your car that's under attack.

 

Looks to me like someone just masked the plate and spray painted the surrounding area black.

 

So you don't see all the file marks on the Z bar?

 

Yes, those are pretty obvious if you enlarge the picture. Also, why is the Trim Tag so close to the VIN plate, touching it with no gap? That doesn’t seem typical to me.

 

Looks to me like the same sort of grinder marks that you find on all of them where the installer removed the paint locally before doing the spot welds. I don't profess to be an expert on all of this sort of OEM detail; so who knows...maybe that one does represent some shenanigans, but that doesn't seem obvious to me just because it has some grinder marks.

Regardless, the question is why there are two different font appearances, and what is the reason behind it.

 

And the upper Trim Tag was spot welded at least 3 times on both sides, plus the Z bar's lower edge was pretty well rounded off, part way under the tag. Not very "typical"..

Plasticman

 

The font, size, and kerning of CHEVROLET are very different between the two versions of VIN tags used in 1963. I have never seen a breakdown of the VIN ranges where the change(s) took place. The version with the rounded "C" and "O" was used early, and I believe it was also used late. I believe (but cannot say with certainty), it is a GM passenger car blank, whereas the mid-production version was Corvette-specific. The repro VIN tags I have seen are all the rounded C/O version. I do not think there is a repro (counterfeit) version of the other format. I would think someone has studied this, for the fact that there are many 63s with repro VIN tags and it's a big issue when evaluating one of these cars. Roy Sinor or Bill Braun would be most likely to know.

 

On the top example the vin tag is butted up to the Trim tag, There should be a space between them.
I'm spicious of the top one.

 

Top pic VIN tag blank lookes like a general Chevrolet car blank to me.

Total production of 1963 Corvettes was 21,513...............so the 19,091 car is over 2000 units from end of production. I would not think St Louis would run out of the more typical blanks that early before end of production. Maybe the last week or so is more possible.

I will read over Noland's Book tonight on the 63 cars VIN stamping and see if anything is mentioned.

OP states there are many pics of both type blanks, but does not say what VIN numbers are on each one: we need to see if there is a pattern to where each one shows up: very early, very late, random mixed, etc.

I believe I have seen pictures of the bottom VIN tag before, either somewhere on-line or here on our CF. One issue discussed regarding pic 2 tag was the VIN not being centered on the blank. But I can see that happening as a part of the production process..........training a new person, not paying attention, early in the morning, etc. etc.

Larry