When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
I am new to the forum and am looking to purchase my 1st Corvette. I found one that i can afford but wanted to get an opinion on the trim tag and engine pad stamp. The engine and vin indicate an early production of August 67. The engine block and intake have a H147 cast, the block is cast number 3814678. It appears to be the 38th car off the line the sequence number is 400038. The trim tag looks to me like it’s a repro, it’s date stamp looks like it was punched by hand. It also has a protecto plate that might be a repro.
I would say that the trim tag looks fake, numbers looks right, but the hand stamp is wrong, and it was installed with Rosette VIN rivets.
The protect-o-plate also looks fake, nothing like an original.
Kind of an oddball trim tag. A28 appears to be correct date for vin 00038, but I haven't seen one stamped like that before. It also appears to be held on with vin tag rosette rivets as opposed to the normal pop rivets that they used on the line for the trim tag. This would be a first or second day car, so some odd things might have happened on the line as they got back into production mode. Very interesting.
Don't know if it helps but I've attached my Sept/Oct 1967 trim tag and VIN. Also, my protectoplate looks more like post #3, not stamped, a tape machine.
First day of production with a completely new design? I'd say anomolies abound. I would accept this car as legit and think that tag's quite cool. As mentioned earlier, if you can compare to another first day built car it may help confirm this type of stamping. Buy the car. Greg
Also kind of odd that the protecto-plate is dated more than a year and a half after the car would have hit the lot. I suppose it could have sat that long at the dealer, but seems unlikely.
The protecto plate looks completely LEGIT. Its a replacement protecto plate. The replacement plates were ordered through Chevy if the original owner lost his or when the car was sold within the warranty period. The POP looks competely correct for a replacement for the original first owner. There is a stand alone #1 on the same line as the owners name and that usually indicates a replacement for the original 1st owner. If there was a #2, then it would be the second owner replacement plate. However, in this case it looks like the 'in service' date in the plate shows 5-9 which means this car was not sold or titled until that date. This also most likely indicates this was a dealer demo car. It had 5900 miles on it when first sold as indicated by the 059 on the bottom line and this also allows the new owner to get his full warranty for the late sold 68.
As for the trim tag. My money is on that its original. The rest of the tag looks perfect, its hard for me to see someone making a fake tag so good in every other way and then just slapping on a silly stamped date. I would like to compare it to other tags from that day.
The repro tags I'm familiar with have errors that I do not see on this tag. Need to compare to others from that day.
Last edited by ed427vette; 07-15-2019 at 05:05 PM.
I just found this thread, I guess it could be possible that the car was sold before the warranty ran out and the dealer ordered the new owner a replacement plate.
" The original P-O-P came with the VIN as well as the coded OPTIONS that the car came with, stamped in the metal. The dealer added the original purchaser's name and address, usually with plastic dymo tape. If the car was sold before the warranty expired, in order to transfer it to the new owner a substitute P-O-P was ordered from the factory. It was sent to the new owner directly and had only the VIN and his name and address stamped in the metal, no options listed. Therefore an original owner P-O-P is another form of documentation as to the car's authenticity. "
One more interesting facet about the POP. If you look at the name of the "owner" its Snyder Signs. Most likely a company name not a persons name. Companies were more likely to by demo cars because they could get them fairly cheap. I've seen paperwork for company owned cars and often they bought dealer demos. This doesnt prove anything but it just fits with others I've seen.
When I get back home tonight I can post some examples of POP's like the one the OP posted. I have a few in my collection as well as having pictures in my database of documentation. I also have copies of the paperwork that would be needed to be filled out in order to get the replacement pop.
Last edited by ed427vette; 07-15-2019 at 05:21 PM.
...I was at Bob McDorman's auction of his many, many classic cars & Corvettes probably 12-16yrs ago in Columbus,Ohio. He had in his collection 1968 Corvette #00002. Wished I had a camera that day-don't remember his trim tag on that car that anything was unusual, but may have been like this one.
...I also vote for it to be legit until proven incorrect. A very unique, cool '68. There is a registery of 1968 Corvettes. Maybe other early cars there too.
07-15-2019, 02:55 PM
68 Vette convertible Trim Tag build date
