In April 1971 I purchased my 69 Cortez Silver Z28 from a Chrysler Dealers used car lot for $2,389+ tax.
It had virtually all origional parts except wheels, and shift knob. In '81 I cleaned it up under the hood and had it repainted matching the origional paint. Added a cowl hood and air cleaner, purchased part by part from Cone Bros Chevy in Fullerton. I entered a Super Chevy and two Car Craft meets. I was told by the judges that the engine origional engine compartment paint was not glossy enough, the valve covers should be polished, and the carefully matched paint was too dark when compaired to the restored car two spaces away, a "Magazine featured" Silver repainted car that came from the factory white (Lary Mendoza's). A picture of my engine compartment is shown on page 84 of the April '82 Hot Rod article "Muscle Ducts" - Fresh Air from the Factory.
The Body bild date on tag is "I0C", Block Stamped V0927DZ, but no VIN on block to be found. I had taken the motor out twice to restore but even after hot tanking the block removing all paint I could not find any VIN. I have a good friend that was a forman at the LA plant and he said it was possible that it was missed. I bought your book and found out what it would look like, that it was the same as the stamp on the trans, and that it would be faint.
Last weekend I looked at the matching VIN on the M21 trans and removed most paint from the oil filter boss. Found the VIN stamp matching the the car and the VIN stamp on the trans. The stamp has two different style 5's in the vin, the L is a larger font, and they match exactly, except I cannot make out the "L5" in the third and forth position on the block.
I kept telling others I doubted that some one would spend a lot of time and money to exactly clone a 2 year old car in 1971 that was widely available.
THANK YOU... You have made me very happy to be able to show that the engine is the origional. PS: There are a few items that are different than a normal 69. The stripes were '68 style, no spoilers, the cam degrees as if it is the optional off road specification, the front sits lower than factory with shorter springs, etc. The "story" when I bought it was that is was the street car given to a GM drag racer that had to get rid of it because he now ran a Chrysler Hemi drag car he had just picked up at the dealer
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