I bought a matching number 1969 vette back in April as a birthday gift to myself. Nothing too serious just a regular old 350 300 hp automatic w/ac but mostly all original. A couple weeks ago I took the car to the shop to have the motor rebuilt. I dont know much about cars except that I know that having matching numbers is very important and I would never buy a corvette that had numbers that didnt match. I expressed this to the mechanic shop and told them how important having a numbers matching corvette was to me.

I think you guys can probably guess the rest of the story...

Everything with the rebuild was going great until I went to pick it up from the mechanic shop yesterday. The guy opened the hood to show me the new orange paint on the enigine and how everything looked etc. As I looked at the block I noticed that the original vin numbers were missing!! These were the numbers that I made sure were there when I bought the car. If they were not there I would have never bought the car. So I asked the mechanic what happened to the numbers and he told me that when the machine shop decked the block they grinded off all the original numbers. At this point my mind is going in crazy!!! He said that there still were numbers on the back of the block and that is what counts anyway and that the car is still a matching numbers car. I told him that he was wrong and that the original numbers that match the vin is what makes the car a mathcing numbers car. (Am I correct?)

Anyhow theres nothing I can do about it now. I'm just really upset about the whole thing and feel like I got robbed. Now I have to explain this to a potential buyer and I'll probably look like an idiot. Its just a crappy feeling all together especially because I went a long way to get the car and was really excited about restoring it and then this crap happens. I've read a bunch of threads in the last day about decked blocks and how not to ever let someone do it to your car. I know there are ways to re-stamp it and I;ve also read about the use of acid to bring back the number and someone I talked to at the Corvette Clinic in San Jose told me that you might still be able to see the numbers if you look closely.

I wish I would known about this site 2 weeks ago!!! I also wish that someone at the mechanic shop would have told me that the numbers would be grinded off. If I would have known this I would not have allowed them to do it. Anyhow- does anyone have any words of encouragment or advice cause I dont know what to do at this point. Should I keep tryin to restore it? Is it still a matching numbers car? If not is it even worth restoring? What if the shop writes a letter of explanation? Any suggestions/comments would help right about now. Thanks.

 

It is still a matching #'s car. I had a friend and the same thing happened to him - #'s ground off. When he sold it he gave the buyer the shop owners phone number who told him it was #'s matching - that satisfied that particular buyer. Perhaps, have the machine shop do a formal letter stating such. You will be fine - there's always a solution!!!

 

Sucks to be you!
If numbers matching was your reason for buying this car, you just got screwed. No way to verify your decked engine is matching now unless you can still see the numbers. Maybe by delicately removing the paint over the numbers you may be able to see them? The rest of the numbers do not tell you if it's the original motor. They will tell you the date it was made and maybe what kind of car it was originally in, but not specifically if it's the original heart to your car.
You may well have just been robbed of some value in your car if you paid a premium for the car originally based on it being numbers matching.

If it was a true numbers matching car, you probably hurt the value also by modifying it! You should have put the original engine in storage and built a different engine to play with. A stock rebuild would have been the way to keep it worth more.

IMO, numbers matching is over rated unless it's a "true collectible".

 

well my first reaction is that i feel bad for you.
as far as it still being a #s matching car it is cause you know it is the same block as what came out. (you hope)
get a set of stamps get rid of the paint on the pad
clean it real good then go to your local weld supply house and get some dye penatrate (thats what they spay on to check for cracks in welds. that should expose your #s then just carefully restamp.
my block was decked by p. o. but i really dont care
oh and yes as far as originality and resale you got screwed by that shop. (but this should have been discussed befors work started)

 

If the dye don't work, then there is no way of knowing the engine was not swapped. In which case, restamping would be a forgery.

Anybody could grind the numbers off their replacement engine and restamp to make it a numbers matching car.

Did GM use any special stamps on these?

 

Apparently acid brings out the original punched numbers. Even though they are no longer there, the metal underneath got crushed when the numbers were stamped. I have heard that putting acid on the pad will bring back the numbers so you can take a picture of them for originality purposes. That's your best bet, But other than that, you'll have to suck it up. I don't even think you could safely use this technique on an assembled engine.

 

Personally, I think it would be silly to sell a good, solid, project car for this reason. Then again, I'm not an NCRS fan.

 

Carefully get it restamped. Have an 'expert' do it. If any question ever comes up, just keep the reciepts and explain what happened. And enjoy the car for what it is!

 

if/when you sell the car just tell the buyer what happened and if they dont like it then there will wlways be someone else.

 

Your OK......just have the machine shop that made the mistake restamp it. When I had my engine rebuilt the machine shop asked if I wanted it decked and restamped.

 

Thanks for the advice everyone. I have heard and read about so many horror stories when it comes to re-stamping. There are pictures out there showing how badly things turn out when you re-stamp. of course, in all fairness I would have to tell any prospective buyer that car was re-stamped and to be honest if was to buy a "re-stamped car" I would probably twice about it.

However I've read some people say that restamping is like replacing a lost emblem on a car and when you look at it that way its not so bad. I'm not sure what to do at this point.

How much does it cost to re-stamp and would it be inappropriate to ask the machine shop to pay for it since they were the ones who screwed up in the first place? Shouldnt someone at the mechanic or machine shop given a warning about the numbers being ground off?

 

You got any pics of the numbers on the block before they machined them off?

 

dont Californians sue each other over hot coffee and spicy wings?

SUE SUE SUE!!!!!!

 

Ask the question of the machine shop who should pay for restamping - be nice you never know what can happen - should they have told you, perhaps technically you did not ask them not to - have them send you a letter stating what/why was done with dates/etc - and print out this page/s to tell any future buyer what happened. Per the above "there will always be someone else" as a buyer - there will be so don't worry about it. In regards to #'s matching - I just put a 330 hp crate engine in my 1970 - the original had three pistons come apart and fall into the oil pan - walls were scortched so possible overheating problem in the future. My point is that #'s matching - unless "true collectable" won't mean that much in the future but, cosmetics will - cost of paint job, interior, etc. Enjoy your Vette!!!

 

How can you convince a potential purchaser that this is the original block?

How do you know the machine shop didn't already swap your block?

You got screwed too. Sorry.

 

It's already too late to think about a restamp. The shop also machined off the original broach marks- these are almost impossible to reproduce. 99% of attempts are picked up immediately by knowledgeable owners.

Unless you had it in writing NOT to deck the block, there's not much recourse.

This subject gets beaten to death regularly on this forum, always with the same outcome.

 

If you restamp the motor, the story of why it was restamped won't seem credible.

There are two ways to handle this here ...

1. Leave it alone and get a letter from the shop stating what happened if it makes you feel better, but no buyer is going to pay a matching numbers price for it. I buy matching numbers cars. I wouldn't buy a car that had a motor with no serial, whether there was a letter explaining it away from a mechanic or not. I don't know either of you and for all I know the two of you are running a scam. Those of us who buy collector cars won't be interested in hearing the story. Not trying to be rude, but put yourself in the position of the buyer - would a letter from some mechanic be enough to satisfy you to the point that you would still pay full price? If so, you're in the minority.

2. Restamp the motor and never speak of it again. Don't get a letter from the mechanic that rebuilt it. Don't say a word about it. Technically you're doing nothing wrong here as long as you're putting the correct numbers back on. If someone detects that it's a restamp, be honest and tell the truth, but if they don't notice it then it's no different than if it was the original motor.

If I were in your shoes I'd go with #2.

 

There is your problem...you're the sort of buyer that makes the Holy Church of the Matching Number and every scammer alive salivate, I'm sorry to say.

 

I can't believe how often this happens. If this happened (or ever does happen) to me I would be very upset because your car has lost value, your one and only original vin number was on that engine when it left the factory and now it is gone forever.

I don't understand how professional engine rebuilders don't know this.

 

and don't forget the one where a lady sued and won because she was not asked her ID when buying liquor.