What are the guidelines, if any, which determine when it's OK to re-stamp a block to make it match a particular car it didn't come? I've always seen warnings not to ever do so, and cautions against over-paying for a car suspected of having one, but is it ever actually an accepted legitimate practice, and if so when?

TIA for settling my confusion, or at least for what may prove to be an interesting debate...

 

Never, everbody has a hard luck story of why the original engine block is gone, tough!
Thats what separates matching and non matching.
The way the first purchaser bought it out the door the first day is it, not 3 weeks down the road and he blows up the engine and GM replaces it, it is now non-numbers matching.
You have only 1 set of original parents, no matter how good or bad they are.

 

It's OK if the restamp looks like this:

 

Some people restamp engines for NCRS purposes rather than taking the deduct. That's fine if that's your only goal.

The problem comes when the car is being offered for sale. Does the owner tell the truth and take an X % loss in price because it's a restamp? How about the next time it's sold? Which seller eventually 'forgets' that the car is a restamp and it gets sold as an original?

 

Per NCRS, you can re-stamp a block to match what actually came in the car from the factory to the dealership as delivered. Say, a documented 427 vette with a replacement 350 motor can be resurrected by finding the correct casting 427 and have that re-stamped to match what originally came in the car. Having a vette with a 327 motor and replacing the 327 with a correct casting number, re-stamped 427 would be considered counterfeiting. I hope I explained it clearly enough.

 

Clear as a bell

 

If you had your original block machined and they took it off during that process, you have a case. The problem, as others have pointed out, come at resale or several owners past you. The story gets twisted to lose the best intentions of the original restamper. So your better off not (but a lot of guys do, especially with the high hp cars). /:\

 

I may be wrong here...and correct me if I am.... I beleive it becomes "Kosher"...when a Rabbi Blesses It.....and He has to be present at the time of the Re-stencil.

(I have no idea why I posted this)

 

One thing for sure, standup's pic is hillarious! Can you imagine looking at the block and seeing that? lol!

 

Personally, I feel when a part is replaced from the original; that part of the cars originality is gone forever. If you replace a fuel pump or fan clutch (both of which are stamped dated parts), those parts are no longer original to that car. The parts aren't reproductions, they are just not thee original parts anymore.

Re-stamping a closely configured and date casted engine as a replacement to a Corvettes missing original engine, in my opinion only has one reason for doing so....resale value.

I would never do it.

 

I have two pieces of money, a $5 and a $100 bill.

I lost both, BUT.... I fortunately had a scan of each so I knew what they looked like.

So I went to print them back out. Now I have a "restamped" $5 and $100 and they aren't counterfeit because NCRS says so.

----
OR

I decide "why print a $5 when I can print a $100?" So I print both as $100, and now one is real and the other counterfeit.

But can you tell which is which?

----


Somehow, I grew up being taught, if it ain't real, it ain't real. No amount of paint, polish, etc. is going to change that. But since NCRS went down this path about 10 years ago, they have let the genie out of the bottle and there is no hopes of it ever returning ever. This is possibly the worse thing NCRS could have ever done for the hobby.

The only way I can ever see it being rectified is to add condition points to restamps, so that you can get partial credit for a stamp being there, regardless of whether it is perfect enough to fool the judges.

That way, the amateur restorer gets his partial credit, the better restorer gets a bit more, and the pro with the original GM stamps gets the most. But it eliminates the Pass/Fail mentality now where the $50,000 restoration shop gets the pass and everyone else gets the fail.

By doing this, "numbers matching" will simply mean that - they match. Any and all thoughts of them being original will be gone and all that garbage that "original" carries will be gone. Cars will once again be judged as cars, prices will be based on quality, and some sort of sanity may return to Corvettes.

Will never happen, though.

 

It is the "National Corvette RESTORATION Society" not the "National Corvette ORIGINALITY Society".

They judge cars that "Appear" as original. The paint must look like it did when it was new. The driveshaft must look like it did when new. BUT the cylinder case stamping is somewhat different and subject to a lot of debate. Hot topic as people with original stamps do not want to refinish that part of the car. Legal issues, provenance, monetary value, etc. The concept of restoration is to refinish everything to look like new but how can you address this hot potato? NCRS gives points for an original stamping BUT not much. That way you can enjoy the sport but not become ailenated if you choose not to restamp. NCRS does not want to encourage you or discourage you from restamping either way. They want participation, not division. Within NCRS there are LOTS of people who have strong feelings about this. I would guess it probably depends a lot on wheather you have an original stamp on your Vette or not.

Consider this crazy idea - an original broached stamp pad with years worth of corrosion/deterioration does not appear restored "As Original" BUT a well done re-stamped pad might look more original because it is fresh and not rusty. -HA! What do you say to that?!?!

JMO.

-Mark.

Not an NCRS member now. Probably never will be. This is part of the reason why.

 

Oh dear, here we go again. NCRS does NOT endorse restamps. Period. If you disagree, please find me ONE written piece of evidence to the contrary.

As stated many times before, IF the judges find a discrepancy with

1) the machine code
2) the VIN deriviative
3) the pad pad surface

EACH will get a complete deduct.

IF a restamp 'gets past' the judges, it means simply that it was not identified as a restamp. Congratulations, you've fooled the judges!!! (no, you've only fooled yourself)

Where does this myth come from that a judge will 'accept' a stamp pad even if he knows that it's a restamp?

And once again the total value of all three items above is 88 points- less than 2% of the total judging score and roughly the same as a couple of burned out light bulbs and an incorrect cigarette lighter.

 

If you (and others) took the time to find out the actual rules and procedures, maybe you wouldn't be so alienated.

BTW- a rusty and deteriorated stamp pad would get a deduct.

 

But what does "this particular" additional 88 points add to the value of the car?I'll bet its not only 2%.

 

Dont blame the NCRS...blame Pr_ Team they were the ones that ran articles in lots magazines descibing how restamping was a good thing for the preservation of the original Corvette.WTF

 

 

Only one reason to restamp..........deception for personal gain!
JU

 

Or for more points.....oh that ends up being the same thing.Duh:o

 

It shouldn't be done.


Period.


Personally, I think it's cooler to have a non-original built up motor in a car anyway. Why not improve what the factory put in and take it one step further.

I don't really even get the whole "original" thing. Ya, it's cool to see an old car, but when people get so crazy as to spend hundreds of dollars on correct fan belts, you have to ask yourself, "And so I have the correct fan belts. Now what. What has that really accomplished me. So I get a few more points."

When you get to the point where you are too terrified to drive your investment, ahem, excuse me, car, is it really that fun anymore? Why did you buy the car in the first place? I doubt it was so it could sit in a climate controlled bubble 360 days of the year, and spend the rest on a trailor and on some big front yard that's more like a car yard sale where the buyers name the prices.

Real cars are driven. If it breaks, fix it and make it better than it was.

But then again, that's a whole other can of worms there.

My .02