'62 Impala #s 409/409hp

[tom406]

With thanks to the late Verne Frantz, who educated me when I was authenticating 348 and 409 cars years back, I am confident that is a decked and restamped block. Linear broach marks that replicate small block pad surfacing, is the tell. The ‘62 409 Bel Air I was inspecting also had linear broach marks, and Verne set it straight, saying that the 74 degree deck of the W motors made them not work on the 90 degree broaching machine, so the low production W motors were decked with a rotary tool that left circular marks on the pad. I’m attaching some (I believe) untouched W motor pads for reference.