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I like the first 6 of the VIN but question the last 3 -- especially since this engine is coded as a 427/435. The shapes of the common characters is consistent from left to right, but the 398 appears slightly out of alignment. The broach marks look fine but I don't know how well folks have gotten in reproducing them. Lastly, the photo is slightly fuzzy which doesn't help seeing the character sharpness and pad texture.
Here are some other engine stamps from '69 to compare character shapes; OP's is first.
Agreed, it looks fishy. These where done with a gang stamp.
They should be straight. But.......
Lots of unusual things came out of the factory.
There are a number of other things to check.
And a really clear pic of the broch marks could help.
Thanks for the input. The dealership bought it at an auction and is only selling it for 31k. It would be worth a lot more if it’s a true 427/435 original motor car. It looks super clean but I’m walking away on this one.
Show a photo of the tranny stamp. They should be identical, done at the same time with the same gang stamp. Any anomalies should be in both places. If not, you have a restamp and likely NOM.
I think this one is a real puzzler and one for the experts. The 3 characters have a slight uplift for the middle bar which is consistent across this pad and is seen in the others. There looks to be just slightly more spacing between the S and the 7 which is seen on the other pads too. What would be telling is if you could find other 734339xx pads to see if the slight angle is an alignment "issue" with those 39xx characters.
Looking at the block, heads, and intake #s and dates will also add to the evidence for original or NOM.
If it's a restamp, it's a good one. The broach marks look correct, and I don't see any problem with the shape of the characters. The alignment of the last 3 characters is slightly off but that's normal. The individual numbers were held in a gang stamp and only the last few digits were changed when the next car was stamped. The only way to know for sure is to contact Classic Car Affirmation Service. The company was started by Al Grenning years ago. I met him at Bloomington back in the day. He verified the stamp on my '66 for me back before he was charging for the service. He had albums full of photos of pad stamps ordered sequentially and you could often compare your stamp to the cars ahead and behind on the assembly line. If there was a chip out of the '3' in your stamp, you could see if the next car in line had the same defect. My pad had been stamped with the wrong number and the correct number stamped overtop, but you could see that every other detail of the stamp was an exact match to the other cars on the assembly line that day.
If the car you are looking at is a legit 435 car, $31K could be a good deal whether it's the original block or not.
Goose1966 I sent you a pm regarding the car. I have a lot of engine stampings in my database and when compared to cars built within the same day, or within weeks the stamp does not match typical factory production in my opinion. Close but no cigar.
Goose1966 I sent you a pm regarding the car. I have a lot of engine stampings in my databsase and when compared to cars built within the same day, or within weeks the stamp does match typical factory production in my opinion. Close but no cigar.
To compare the vin stamp you have to compare to other vins as close to it as possible. To compare to the assembly plant stamp you have to compare others from the same day.
Even then, it’s VERY difficult if the stamper knows his stuff. DKM just recently sent me stamp pic that had many big names fooled. Would have had me fooled. It looks perfectly aged, correct fonts, stamp depth and wear, positioning, everything looked like I would expect.
I thought I knew more about stamp pads 10 years ago then I do today. The more I speak to the very experienced guys the more I know I don’t know. Unless it’s a totally obvious fake, like done by a kindergartener, I am never sure about stamps anymore.
