Hi All,

My father currently has a 427 engine stamped on the pad T10081R. The engine was given to him by a very well know corvette builder / racer from Huntington beach. He said that it came from the factory in a 68 corvette, the car was wrecked and he held onto the engine, it was on his shelf for about 25 years long after the car was gone.

So here is the question, does the number stamped make sense coming out of a 68 corvette. Is it from the high performance division as a special order?

 

Yes. IR indicates a Corvette 427/435hp engine.
T Tonawanda New York engine plant
1008 Date engine was assembled at Tonawanda, October 8, 1968.

There should be a second number stanped on the pad; the VIN derivitive of the Corvette the engine was originally installed in.

 

Thanks, any chance you know how many of these were made? Is it a rare engine?

 

According to this site 2898 were ordered.

http://corvetteactioncenter.com/spec...68/68prod.html

 

Hi 69,
What made the engine unusual was the fact that it had solid lifters and 3-2 barrel carbs.
It was available in 67, 68, 69. So it's not really too rare.
It's valuable mainly when it comes in the car that it was in when it left St.Louis.
Regards,
Alan

 

Thanks Guys, very helpful.

 

Assembly date could equally be Oct. 8 '65, '66 or '67 as this same code (IR) was used in the '66 through '68 model year cars. '69 Production was already under way in Oct '68 and the IR code was not used.

Give us the rest of the numbers to see if it was installed in a car by GM and which HP rating it had, or whether it was supplied as an over the counter crate engine.

 

I asked my father and this is only number stamped on the pad. Maybe it was a crate engine from GM. Are there any other numbers to check?

 

The casting number and date of the block would help pin it down.

 

Nice score. Not super rare, but worth a few bucks to the right person.

 

Do you know where the casting number and date will be located?

 

Back top of the block. It's looks like raised numbers. The date will be month letter and year. Something like K68.

 

Well that pretty much disputes the builder/racer's claim that it came from the factory installed in a '68 vette. I seriously doubt any car, let alone a 435hp vette, left the factory without a VIN derivative stamped on the engine block. It was probably against federal law. Decking the block during any previous rebuild, if done correctly and completely, should have removed both the Tonawanda date stamp and the St. Louis VIN derivative stamp. Perhaps this was done and only the Tonawanda stamp was replaced...awaiting some future unforseen VIN derivative stamp...but why? Must be a crate engine. I understand that over-the-counter warranty replacement blocks were stamped CE.

Depending on the above-mentioned casting number and date code, this engine COULD be valuable to a restamper or restorer who is looking for a replacement engine to stamp with a particular vehicle's VIN derivative. Depending on the honesty of the seller and the naivete of the buyer, a sale could be (and many have been) concluded for a lot more money just because these stamped numbers (and letters by the way) "correspond" or have a certain "similarity" or "relationship" to the VIN on the windshield pillar. Some of us, especially Mike Ward, do not like the "M" word. Higher money would likely exchange hands, assuming the engine is original to the car. Obviously nothing could be further from the truth...if that is what the buyer was told.

As a side note, there are rumors floating around that twice as many 435hp cars exist today than were ever produced by the factory.