[C1] Block Stamping
Le Mans Master
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 7,353
Likes: 867
From: Norcal CA
2018 C1 of Year Finalist
given all else equal, 1 car with a obvious restamp vs another car with no stamp may or may not have a different value. I don't think it will call into question the whole car?
value both cars on the obvious conclusion... it doesn't have a correct factory stamp.. that should set the value.
easy enough to take a grinder to the re-stamped pad and now the values of both cars will be the same.. or vise versa, restamp the blank pad and now the value of both cars should be the same... again.. all else being equal.
there are top flights out there with owner's admitted restamps....that may or may not have got the engine points.. but still top flighted.
if of course the car is judged.. the vast majority of corvettes are not presented for judging... or are amateur judged with the hood up at a saturday car show.
still no one has answered the OP's question. I suspect no one will admit renting a stamp kit.....
easy enough to buy the stamp kits and weld up a gang striker.
value both cars on the obvious conclusion... it doesn't have a correct factory stamp.. that should set the value.
easy enough to take a grinder to the re-stamped pad and now the values of both cars will be the same.. or vise versa, restamp the blank pad and now the value of both cars should be the same... again.. all else being equal.
there are top flights out there with owner's admitted restamps....that may or may not have got the engine points.. but still top flighted.
if of course the car is judged.. the vast majority of corvettes are not presented for judging... or are amateur judged with the hood up at a saturday car show.
still no one has answered the OP's question. I suspect no one will admit renting a stamp kit.....
easy enough to buy the stamp kits and weld up a gang striker.
The issue is further down the road when someone else is trying to pass it off as a numbers matching vehicle. Let say this... It gets restamped by the current owner. He takes it through judging and it passes. Then decides to sell the car to someone else who is informed that the block was restamped. That person decides to flip it as numbers matching corvette. The new owner does some research asking people's thoughts whether or not it is a factory stramp only to find out it was not. The person wants to sue because it was advertised as a numbers matching car. Does he or she sue the previous owner and/or both parties? It is not like these things do not happen...
Melting Slicks
Joined: Jan 2006
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2018 C4 of Year Finalist
2016 C4 of Year Finalist
2015 C4 of Year Finalist
FWIW.. All but one, possibly two of the 1967 L-88 cars are known to have restamped engines. Personally, I think if GM would have kept the original build records, restamping to original engine specs might be a little more acceptable these days. Otherwise there's too much opportunity for fraud.
Safety Car
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 4,451
Likes: 326
From: Indy Indiana
The issue is further down the road when someone else is trying to pass it off as a numbers matching vehicle. Let say this... It gets restamped by the current owner. He takes it through judging and it passes. Then decides to sell the car to someone else who is informed that the block was restamped. That person decides to flip it as numbers matching corvette. The new owner does some research asking people's thoughts whether or not it is a factory stramp only to find out it was not. The person wants to sue because it was advertised as a numbers matching car. Does he or she sue the previous owner and/or both parties? It is not like these things do not happen...
2nd.. put in your sale contract that all characteristics, including a no guarantee of any originality clause, for all current and future discoveries are not guaranteed and the lack of guarantee is the basis for price negotiated. of course verbally tell him it is a restamp
3rd. if car is judged and gets engine points then a ncrs/BG/other well reputed paid expert has declared the engine as typical factory production. thats good enough for me to refute any future discovery and any lawsuit back to me will fail. you can't without really good proof go back 2 owners of a car.
when that car is out of my control, the only exception is maybe a theft or bad title somewhere a few owners down the line.
4th.. definition of numbers matching? very nebulous, but yes, it is only a connotation. there are 50 different definitions.. IMHO, the only true definition is that the title matches the VIN tag.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_of_Theseus
besides, the prices are converging for NOM and numbers matching cars... due to these arguments and the skill of the counterfeiters. sure the super collectibles are still up there, but that is a small subset of the sales out there.
Last edited by joewill; Apr 21, 2026 at 01:35 PM.
