72 H/O pace car where are the motor # located?

[AMANOCC]

Looking at a 72 Hurst Olds pace car, hoping to find out where to look for vin #s on motor...will be my first Olds, so not sure about where to look? Any thing else i should keep in mind when looking at this car? Thanks, Alec

[gtaa9]

I owned a 72 Cutlass Supreme with a 4speed awhile ago.Theres a flat machined surface on the passenger side of the motor on the front of the block.You'll have to get underneath in the front of the car to see it.I believe the vin is straight up and down on that machined surface.This is were I found my vin on my olds.

[AMANOCC]

Thanks, going tomorrow to check the car out....

[SmallHurst]

I should look at mine again, but I was remembering it to be on the drivers side. Would be easy enough for me to look at currently as the motor and trans are in the middle of my garage!

Like I need to remind anyone about anything as far as correct parts go, but make certain that it has the correct letter heads, carb, exhaust and intake manifolds. Sorry I am away from my resources right now as I would rattle off everything you need. The stripes on the car were/are 3M decals that have a faded strobe and should be reflective. The Indy lettering was optional on the car. Are you looking at a coupe, convertible, or sunroof car? Make sure you have the medallion on the dash by the glovebox. If you are dealing with a hardtop, look at the vinyl roof material. They used 3 different suppliers and they have some reproduction stuff available, but the corner hold downs are a very important part that does not have reproduction at this time. The color code on the body tag should be for Cameo White only. The vin should be for a Lansing built car only. I believe that almost everything for that car is reproduced as it has less speciality stuff than the 68 and 69 cars.

[SmallHurst]

Did some digging and here are some things you should look for. As mentioned above, it should be a Lansing built car. The Vin will read as follows, a 'X' will appear as the 5th digit in the vin if it is a W-30 car, a 'U' is the other 455, a 'M' will appear as the 7th digit for a Lansing built car.

Heads= Look for a 'Ga' on the left side of the head.

Exhaust manifolds= Look for 'W' on the drivers, 'Z' on the passenger side

Intake= On a W-30 car it will be an aluminium piece (not painted) with 'Olds W-455' on the intake runner , casting # 407570, and look for a letter 'A' in the valley by the water neck. No EGR on this. If it is a 'U' code engine, it will be an iron manifold.

As for the engine pad, it is under the drivers side head. According to 442.com, it is very unlikely that the pad will have the correct vin stamped in. Hope this helps.

[Stefano]

It would be on the drivers side and should match the last 6 of the vin,plus the letter code if original. Vin in '72 provides the engine size.

[retengw31]

Rusty:
Wonder why 442.com says that? They matched when they left the factory as Stefano says here. I think the engine stamp would be 2MXXXXXX. Maybe they assume very few have the original engine in them still. That I really believe. Then I guess it makes sense.

[TimG]

An X code car would no doubt be a true Pace Car as no Cutlass Supreme hardtops other than a Pace Car can have an X code engine. A U 455 could be purchased in any Cutlass hardtop. As I understand, there was no way to tell a true Pace Car from the trim tag or ID number unless an X code.
I'm looking at a 1972 X code Pace Car for sale locally.
If it has the original spare it is a rare, rare Goodyear Polysteel 60 series made only for this car. Make sure it is not a standard Cutlass Supreme in white with a 455 dressed up like a Pace Car. They can also have an open rear end, no posi.