Hello,

I have a 1969 Corvette Coupe that I am going to sell and I need to know the exact location where I look for "matching numbers" on my car. Any help would be appreciated.

Coastie66

 

Hi C,
The term "matching numbers" means different things to different people.
Generally it refers to the determining if the engine and transmission are the ones that were in the car when it left St.Louis.
There is a 'pad' on the front of the engine block just below the front of the right side head that was stamped with information about when the engine was produced and in what configuration (hp); and also a stamp which indicates the build sequence (VIN) of the car the engine was installed in. There's also a stamp on the side of the transmission case which indicates the VIN of the car it was installed in.
This information is compared to the VIN tag riveted to the driver's side a-pillar and the trim tag riveted to the driver's side hinge pillar which contains a code for the date the car was produced.
Good Luck as you look.
If you list the information you find folks here will help you determine what you've found.
Regards,
Alan

 

Hi Coastie66, you have asked a great question and I anticipate you will get a number of varying answers on this one, but let me address the exact numbers question. Your engine pad contains the VIN number and manufacture data on it. That is one number you need. The driver side A-Pillar has the VIN plate on it, that is the second place you need to confirm. The transmission, if original, also has the VIN number on it. The forth and final area is the frame itself. The VIN is typically on the frame behind the drivers side rear wheel. It can be tough to spot but it is under there. I have to remove that wheel typically to see it, but it is there.

Convention says that IF your engine pad, pillar post, chassis and transmission all have the same VIN on them then they match the numbers. Others will suggest you need to add to this the build plate data that is on the drivers side of the car. It is a mounted plate with the color of the car, interior color and style, and date of manufacture data on it.

Some will say that if the body color has been changed it is not numbers matching.

Some will say that if the interior color has been changed or altered it is not numbers matching.

And then there is the whole date code correct debate for all components on the car that contain date codes, and there are many. People make a living just restoring date coded product so cars can have correctly dated parts on their original numbers matching car.
I believe all of these things affect final pricing but I will leave it to you to determine how much originality there is in the car and how much you want to sell the car for based on that originality.

I hope you found this helpful.

David Howard
AllC34Me

 

You beat me by a full minute Alan, nicely done.

 

The partial VIN on the engine stamp pad matching the VIN on the windshield pillar is often accepted as the minimum definition of numbers matching. Without this, the other numbers make little difference.