Camaro Block Stamping

[Chevy454]

Here's a '68 L-78 stamp, courtesy of Kim Howie:

[Supergas990]

Thanks to everyone for the input. I'm still kinda new to this whole numbers matching thing, so all of your expertise is appreciated.

Now, I just have to watch the auction and decide what I could part with to put this car in my garage.

Thanks again.

[Verne_Frantz]

Supergas,
I have a large library of original Tonawanda block stampings between '58 and '65. It has been my experience that they never stamped the numeral "1" in the date stamp. The letter "I" was always used instead. I've never seen a "1" through those years.
And at the final assembly plant, it was the same person's job to stamp the VIN derivitive on both the block and trans.
Just telling you my experience - not taking sides or pointing fingers. And as I said, my reference stops at '65.
Verne.

[Steve Shauger]

I have an survivor L78 69 pace car with a engine stamping TO31IJH. At least in this instance they indeed used both number 1 and letter I.

[Verne_Frantz]

It would appear that by then Tonawanda did indeed run out of "I"s
Verne.

[Supergas990]

I'm not asking anyone to take sides or make any accusations. I'm just trying to learn, before I get into a deal.

Oftentimes, when I look at cars my heart tends to lean towards "buy them all"... when my head knows that I have to be smart about any prospective purchase.

Thanks again for all the feedback.

[Unreal]

Hey Paceme,
You don't happen to have the Cobleskill, NY L78 Z11, do you?

[Steve Shauger]

No, this car is from PA. I purchased it from the second owner who had owned it since 1971. When he retired, he moved to Fla, which is where I purchased it.

[TimG]

There are Noverember, 11 390 horse Corvettes with ones and I's in the stamping. This stamp would be TIIIIIL for a November, 11 IL code motor. Even the I character is documented with different style I's. The car I saw had two different types of I's and a 1 used for this date code.
The key is other cars with engine stampings of the same date had the same features. These unusual cars will validate each other. A '68 L88 in Houston has a engine build stamp with a 1 in place of an I for the engine designation. This car was considered a fake or at least a questionable car until another '68 L88 that was the next car built turned up independently with the same feature.

[Kim_Howie]

After I took my head out of my a-- and fresh air got to my brain I agree there is nothing wrong with the block stamping jmo Kim [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]