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:hmmm:


http://www.hotrod.com/articles/rare-...years-storage/

Hmmmm...?? Nice story. Everyone back then was tooling down the road at 16 with their 425 hp Vette just looking to buy and add something else to their collection, huh? $1200? bet he earned that mowing grass around the neighborhood over the summer? Hubcaps? No bumper guards? Early Norwood car with VIN by oil filter? What did Abe say, "You can fool some people some of the time...". I dunno, just skeptical from too many years of this stuff. There must be a stable close by, 'cause there is a lot of horse s**t with this story, if you ask me, IMO.

I agree some of the facts cant be right

Was Norwood stamping VIN's on the cast side of the block in Oct/Nov '68?

Per CRG..."The Norwood plant stamped the VIN on the engine pad on early cars and moved the stamp by the oil filter in the December 68 timeframe."

That is what I recall as well. The partial VIN stamping on the block doesn't look correct to me either (which is why I took the time to find the date of the change).

April Fools? This story make no sense.

I had a Norwood October 386 DZ block VIN stamped on the side; seen others.

Car has been messed with plenty, been apart for decades. Obviously repainted, front suspension out of it at one time, engine is out of it. Car has rally wheels in the 1970 photo; not unusual to remove rear bumper guards.

Previous owners memory is a bit fuzzy on some details.

VN cars? OR Norwood cars?

Norwood.

Then might I suggest CRG update their info..

Norwood only did that for a short time; the VIN was back to the pad shortly thereafter. The 'official' change was late December; however there are January built '69s with the VIN on the pad.

Also, at least 2 ZL1s built March '69 were VIN stamped on the pad.

I love buying cars like this. Stock engines do nothing for me, so there's no wasted money.
If it wasn't for ambitious previous owners like this guy that pulled the car apart in 1976, it would be another junker. Pic #11 shows the condition of the drivers window fuzzy.

Is the grille correct, or should it be silver ?

Non RS cars all had silver grilles

The fonts in the engine vin and trans vin are totally different look at the 3 and 9

I was looking @ that too...Look @ the O's & 0's too.

That engine stamp looks really bad to me, but that trans stamp looks good for the early font style Norwood used . FWIW.

I personally think the engine is a restamp (especially the vin) and trans is legit.

The stamps are fine, IMO.
The stories on the other hand.....

This sounds like a jailhouse/campfire urban myth bulls@@t story. This guy just happened to stumble into the wake of a deceased Vietnam soldier? His new z28 sitting outside? This is disturbing and ridiculous. I will never believe it...

Seems far fetched but who knows.


Jason

I thought the engine stamp and block vin stamp looks good, nice broach marks too. Can't figure the trans stamp with different font?

every little town/community had a story like that 30-40 yrs ago... :) One or two of them may have been true.

Just want to clarify my issue with the block stamp has to do with the vin portion by the oil filter. Deck stamp looks good, transmission vin stamping is the font that I'm familiar with for early Norwood cars.
If the engine and transmission were stamped using different gang holders and characters at this time then I would be more comfortable with the stampings. Was this a known anomaly with Norwood cars built in this time frame?
The engine vin stamping looks like the later style used in 69.

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I restored a Dusk Blue / Blue standard SS-350 Norwood Camaro built 3rd week of November 1969 (312 from the end of production?) years ago and it too had an original "386" block in it with the Vin stamped by the oil filter for what it worth.

Bill

Forget the VIN stamps, and the BS....the buyer's name is actually Ralph BIZZARRO ???!!

Great thread... and a good educational tool as well, for all the variations that we see are not always automatically dismissed these days.

That's progress!

There's no way the same gang stamp did both the engine and transmission

In the time frame of this cars build the trans VIN was not gang stamped...

The bell housing in the trunk has a Corvette clutch fork in it...

Hope this helps... Crash

Agreed.

Norwood Motor line gang stamper with the individual stamps used for hand stamping.

FWIW..I am pretty confident I have at least 6 of the individual stamps actually used on the
ZL-1 motors and perhaps others as well in 1969.

There I was in high school just cruising around in my L72 Corvette when I spotted a near-new '69 Z that I bought for 1200 bucks.

Reminds me of the scene in "Top Gun" when Maverick is telling his MiG story and Iceman coughs and says "BULL*HIT" at the same time.

Hey that's my 74 z/28 trans stamping in that pic above of Norwood stampings.

Yes it is! Perfect original example of the reality of the assembly line.

The X stamp on display might be the one they used on your case..

Bill November of 1969 is very late to see a 386 block casting in production, the 010 block had been around for ~6 months by then; do you recall how much earlier the casting date was than the car build date?

The stamper picture is of the Corvette gang stamp, not NOR, btw.

Could be... What it represents is an accurate example of a gang stamper used by the chevrolet motor division during the period being discussed in a setting that photographically matches the Norwood element arrangement for the assigned worker.

BTW... John kyros sends his regards.

I know because it's JohnZ's picture. :)