LT-1 engine pad stamp
Safety Car
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 4,458
Likes: 331
From: Indy Indiana
it is simply unreasonable for any buyer to require the seller to claim and guarantee that the car has the original engine. if he is the one and only owner then maybe.. if he is the original owner then he is by now approaching senility anyway ( sorry guys ) and I would not trust his originality claim either..
most cars have multiple owners thruout the decades. we cannot expect a seller to know what happened to the car 25 years ago.
We cannot expect a seller to do extensive authentication sleuthing and disclose everything just to have the right to sell his car... one cannot even go to the DMV today and find out who the last owner was due to privacy laws..
that is why the car is not bid way up so far. the uncertainty is just too much for those that really know what they are looking for. this causes some of us non experts to get burned sometimes... That is why prices are all over the place for these cars..
most cars have multiple owners thruout the decades. we cannot expect a seller to know what happened to the car 25 years ago.
We cannot expect a seller to do extensive authentication sleuthing and disclose everything just to have the right to sell his car... one cannot even go to the DMV today and find out who the last owner was due to privacy laws..
that is why the car is not bid way up so far. the uncertainty is just too much for those that really know what they are looking for. this causes some of us non experts to get burned sometimes... That is why prices are all over the place for these cars..
Administrator
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 53,983
Likes: 6,211
From: About 1100 miles from where I call home.
Received a response, re: the stamping. How about this?
"We know that the engine has been rebuilt twice; once in the early '90's and again within the last 6 years or so. It is possible that it is not the original stamping because of the two rebuilds since it was new but all of the other casting and date codes on the block authenticate the block as original to the car."
Casting and date codes "authenticate" ORIGINAL blocks now?
Really?
So... is this a case of a seller intentionally misrepresenting something in hopes of the fuzzy/BS sales game, or does he simply not know better?
"We know that the engine has been rebuilt twice; once in the early '90's and again within the last 6 years or so. It is possible that it is not the original stamping because of the two rebuilds since it was new but all of the other casting and date codes on the block authenticate the block as original to the car."
Casting and date codes "authenticate" ORIGINAL blocks now?
Really?
So... is this a case of a seller intentionally misrepresenting something in hopes of the fuzzy/BS sales game, or does he simply not know better?
Administrator
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 53,983
Likes: 6,211
From: About 1100 miles from where I call home.
For the record, a '71 LT1 would have a 010 block casting... the same as in my '69. or a '75. Or a '79. The date cast format (if correct) would suggest Corvette, and possibly place it within a reasonable time frame of the build date. He of course does not provide any of this.
So, at this point he's "authenticated" its a Corvette motor. Or a truck motor. And it's possibly date appropriate. Or not.
Somehow this equates to "original."
The $66k NADA quote tells me a lot, too.
So, at this point he's "authenticated" its a Corvette motor. Or a truck motor. And it's possibly date appropriate. Or not.
Somehow this equates to "original."
The $66k NADA quote tells me a lot, too.
Drifting
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 1,455
Likes: 5
From: Upstate South Carolina
Is this the orginal engine to the car? I think all can agree probably not. What we do know is that the engine stamp pad is wrong for a 71 LT-1. Not only is the vin and assembly date/suffix codes in the wrong place but the vin derivitive is in the wrong format for a 71. Regardless of what sellers say, potential buyers have to decide for themselves how correct/original cars are. It should take about 5 seconds to determine that this car should be treated as a NOM car that MAY have started life as an LT-1. I'd rather have a car with a CE block or blank pad then a car with such an obvious non standard pad. Could it be a factory mistake? Maybe, but the seller better be prepared to prove it with a stack of documentation.
