I have been reading and hearing alot about this "numbers matching" thing. I understand it to be the motor matching the car. But what about the tranny/rearend/and other parts. It would seem to me that if it was just the motor, that would make no sense. I personnely bought my vette for amusment. I did not go out looking for an investment. If people are buying vettes for investment purposes, they can do MUCH BETTER in other ways on investing. I just purchased a 77. After reading about this numbers matching, I went to check mine out. Turns out that my motor has the same # as the vin on the body. So does this make my car more valuable then another 77 without a matching motor? To me one way or the other I don't care. As long as I can get in it and drive it, and it puts a smile on my face im happy.

 

The term numbers matching really means that everything is correct. It gets used a lot on ebay and other places to refer to the motor matching the car. A true numbers matching car will also have the correct trans (will also have the vin stamped on it), rear end, carb, master cylinder, heads, water pump, etc. These parts had casting numbers that should be correct for the production date of the car. Your car is worth a bit more with the correct engine in it as compared to a similar car with a NOM engine.

Here is the vin stamp on my trans.

 

numbers matching has about 50 different definitions. each person has a different connotation.. the most common are that the last 8 or so characters of the engine pad stamp match the VIN# on the title and the windshield post. more stringent definitions are that the engine is original ( it may match numbers but not be original due to counterfeiting).. even more stringent is that the drivetrain is correct in all ways. even most stringent definition is that the car is all original from all the nuts and bolts to the tires/battery/wiper blades. always make sure that your buyer's or seller's definition is equal to your's. the car with the matching numbers will almost always fetch more money on 2 equal condition cars where one has more degree of originality than the other.

it is agreed that many people do not want to play the matching numbers game but the simple fact is that many do and will pay more money for matching numbers. you may never sell your car, you may never care about matching umbers.. but when it comes time to sell, then it is a basic fact that originality sells.

now proving originality is an entire different subject.. remember that there are far more 67 427 vettes, and far more 70 chevelle LS6 cars out there than the factory ever made.

 

Possibly. There are potential buyers who want matching numbers cars and will pay a bit more for one. There are also potential buyers who have no clue about matching numbers and would not care whether the car was original.

 

all you had to do was look around hot august nights this year and you could confirm joewill's statement about more BB cars floating around than ever left the factory!! as for the "numbers matching" designation there are as many definitions as there are numbers to match. technically, i guess, the frame number has to "match" too, lol! personally, i believe the most common "definition" referred to is that all the drive train numbers match the VIN and the casting numbers on things like the exhaust manifolds is date correct.