ZZ code on 1969 Camaro Z/28 trim tag

[Mark_C]

Wouldn't be anymore backwards than all the other characters on the tag, as they are all stamped from behind. They were stamped into the back of the tag, meaning they are raised up on the front, just like all the other characters except the letters are a different size.

[DarrenX33]

God that's twice today. I better sit back and watch for the rest of the day. Sorry Mark.

[Kurt S]

Darren,
That is a good point. That means it wasn't stamped by standard stamps or it would be backwards.

[Mark_C]

If you have a metal tag designed to be read from the front and you are making an impression in it from the rear using a digit or character, you are making an exact copy of that digit or character. So all the characters in the tag machine are normal, think of the trim tag as a paper credit card receipt (back in the day) and the trim tag machine as the old credit card machine. You put your credit card under the reciept and the machine rolls across it and makes an impression of your card in the reciept. All the info transferred over to the receipt by the raised letters on your card is perfectly legible on the paper copy (or the trim tag). If you were printing from the front you would need reversed characters, like they used to use when printing newspapers. You also would need to arrange the direction of the reversed stamps so that they read right to left (ie they would be legible in a mirror).

If you are stamping number in the surface of a material that is designed to be read from the same side, you need reversed characters like those used in the egg and gang stamps, used to place the partial VINs and engine suffix codes on the firewall and engine blocks.

[Kim_Howie]

Mark, think your last part over a little bit.

[Kurt S]

That's correct Mark. Most stamps are designed to read from the same side they stamp, ie they are reversed so that they stamp a surface 'unreversed'. This is the typical stamp.

It's atypical to have a unreversed stamp like this tag was stamped with. I don't have any stamps around like that in my pile of tools....
That was my only point.

[Mark_C]

I did think it over. Heres the engine gang stamp holder used to place the partial VIN and or the engine assembly codes on these cars. Note the characters (no the image is not reversed)


I guess if you consider reversed stamp characters the ones people would have in their tool box, and "normal" character stamps would be the rare ones then it would appear unlikely someone made these Z's in their garage.

[Kim_Howie]

Never mind

[Kurt S]

I think the 'normal' stamps are rarer, but they do exist. But I doubt you can buy them at your local hardware store.

Kurt

[x44d80]

Kurt or Mark, didn't the Pacer Camaro's used the "Z" character? Was it a larger font? I wonder if it came out larger because it was hand stamped? Also, I wonder if the guy who stamped it ordered the car and wanted a one off tag? Any other tags with unusal characters in them?