Messages

1

Decoding/Numbers / Re: Body stamp dates vs chassis number

« on: February 03, 2022, 09:21:20 AM »

Sorry guys, didn't mean to cause confusion! To recap.

Hidden vin in two locations, doesn't appear to have been tampered with to my (admittedly non-expert) eye is 180XXX which I dated using the attached table from another site to very early March '67

Rear quarter pressing stamps are H4, end of Jan '67 which a member kindly suggested was a reasonable gap to the above.

Vin plate hasn't been with the car since owned, the last 20 years.

Cowl tag is earlier than it should be compared to VIN - 12E and NOR63657 so is not original to the car, although the spec on the tag mostly matches the limited amount of car that is left to consider.

Exception to the spec matching is there is no evidence of Butternut anywhere on the car but it has had a LOT of repaints over the years. However, if I had to guess from poking around in flanges and other areas that have *probably* never been touched, I would say it was white from the factory.

Engine that came with the car dates from '79 and the gearbox had been swapped to a T5.

12 bolt with the car is not the original, I was told it had been ripped off at some point - there is a substantial dent to the chassis rail on the drivers side above the axle and welded repairs to the shock mount same side (non-rusty) which all point to this quite possibly being true.

I'm guessing the traction bar was damaged / deleted at the same time..?

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Decoding/Numbers / Re: Body stamp dates vs chassis number

« on: February 02, 2022, 04:07:06 PM »

It's a fair way off any kind of performance just now! 

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Decoding/Numbers / Re: Body stamp dates vs chassis number

« on: February 01, 2022, 12:00:08 PM »

Yes it has been dry stored as a bare shell for all the time I have owned it, although I do remember the previous owner driving it in the late 90's before he stripped it to restore.

I've been waiting for free time and disposable income to coincide in order to be able to do it justice!

I don't have any of the original running gear to cross-check to, but I would agree with the hypothesis that the car likely had a shady past, prior to export when it was around two years old, as the numbers filed here upon import still tally with those on the car today.

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Decoding/Numbers / Re: Body stamp dates vs chassis number

« on: January 31, 2022, 11:16:49 AM »

The car was exported from the US in the late 1960's and has been titled and registered here since then without issue. I have been the titled keeper for the last 20 years.

Appreciate exactly what you are saying, I think it is unlikely there will be issues with the car here, only perhaps if one wanted to re-export it back to the US?

I'm restoring it to drive not to sell, and since so little of the original car remains, I will build it "my way" and if I do sell years down the line, I'll make no attempt to present it as anything other than a completely modified vehicle.

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Decoding/Numbers / Re: Body stamp dates vs chassis number

« on: January 31, 2022, 10:22:52 AM »

Image attached. Previous owner removed and refitted when painting firewall 20 years ago, but I think 12E is the end of December..?

No running gear with the car other than a 12-bolt that probably isn't original. Traction bar mounting plate on the passenger floor, bar itself long gone.

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Decoding/Numbers / Re: Body stamp dates vs chassis number

« on: January 30, 2022, 10:49:07 AM »

Thanks for that.

Given those dates for the body, roughly what sort of date range might be expected to appear on the trim tag (which I'm already pretty sure isn't correct to the car)?

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Decoding/Numbers / Body stamp dates vs chassis number

« on: January 29, 2022, 06:10:24 PM »

Hi, I am restoring a '67 Camaro with a hidden vin number of 180XXX (the vin tag is missing sadly)

From the reading I have done online, this would appear to be early March '67 production?

I am bare metaling the around the trunk opening and found stampings on both rear quarters, which appear to be H4 both sides - I believe this to indicate the last week of January for panel stamping?

Have I understood the likely meanings correctly and does this time gap seem about right?

Thanks