Barn find hemicuda convertible.

[Charley Lillard]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: RS_COPO_Canuck</div><div class="ubbcode-body">&quot; Finding a date 13 days before my car I decided to enlist an expert which led to the revelation that this block is a production unit and according to the order number most likely original to my car!&quot;

Very cool and interesting.
Who was the expert you are referring to?

There is only one person I know that has a comprehensive list of all the bottom of block assembly dates and the sequence numbers. </div></div>

The expert is Frank Badalson. Frank is about as methodical as you can get. Phil has to send him tracings etc.

[RS_COPO_Canuck]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Charley Lillard</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: RS_COPO_Canuck</div><div class="ubbcode-body">&quot; Finding a date 13 days before my car I decided to enlist an expert which led to the revelation that this block is a production unit and according to the order number most likely original to my car!&quot;

Very cool and interesting.
Who was the expert you are referring to?

There is only one person I know that has a comprehensive list of all the bottom of block assembly dates and the sequence numbers. </div></div>

The expert is Frank Badalson. Frank is about as methodical as you can get. Phil has to send him tracings etc. </div></div>

And that would be the &quot;only one person I know&quot; - lol. That's great....methodical - an apt description to be sure.

[PhilS]

I never really studied the Galen report concerning my block because I knew it was a restoration block. If I had I would have learned a few things. Here's what I have learned in the past couple of weeks. The info on the race block I posted is as follows: 4-17-69 = machine date, F = model year '70, MN426 = hemi, 2986 = 10,000 day date ( September 30, 1969 ), 57236 = order number. The procuction date on my car is A13 or October 13, '69. To connect the order number to a vin would require a large data base that only a few would have. I've sent a tracing to Frank and await his final comments. I never imagined this block was anything other than the warranty block or another block sourced for racing. Of course the vin is gone and may not be retrievable. We are working on that.

[RS_COPO_Canuck]

That's good news Phil.
Warranty blocks never got assembly dates on the bottom - so the block was originally an assembly line piece. Frank has the best (by far) database on Hemi stampings.
Cheers,
Jim Bodanis

[njsteve]

Oh yes, Frank is the man to go to on this stuff.

[cudino]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: njsteve</div><div class="ubbcode-body">The numbers photo you supplied is the engine assembly date info. The 1970 and 1971 engines were cast in 1969 and then assembled shortly thereafter. They were then stored away til orders came in to match them up with a car. April 17 of 1969 is not 13 days earlier. It is a year and 13 days - if your car built in April/May of 1970.

Here is a photo of my old 1971 hemicuda ragtops assembly info - it was built a little more than a year before the car in 1970 for a May, 1971 car.


</div></div>
Steve,
Adding/adjusting your info, on this pad on Hemi blocks, the date that looks like a date is the date the block was machined, or something like that. This date on your old ragtop’s block was 4-20-70. Most Warranty Hemi blocks will also have this date stamp. And you’re right that these machined blocks got stockpiled. But all the other markings on both your block and on Phil’s will only be on blocks assembled for production use, and these other markings do show the date the engine was fully assembled. The &quot;G&quot; on your block designates ’71 usage, while Phil’s &quot;F&quot; designates ’70 usage. Along with this letter these production blocks also got the “MN426xxx” number (or in most ’71 examples “NM426xxx”, with the first 2 digits reversed). As Phil mentions the 4 digits after MN426 are the 10K date code stamping, showing exactly when the block was assembled. In the case of your yellow ragtop, your NM number shows that its block was assembled on ‘3570’, which is Friday, May 7, 1971. I looked up the Scheduled Production Date for you old car and it was scheduled for build on 519 (May 19, 1971). So your car’s block was fully assembled 12 days before your car was scheduled to be built.
- Wade

[njsteve]

Cool info!. So the 12 day span of my old car's block corroborates the 1970's car's mystery block assembly date of 13 days prior.

(And I still have both giant photo albums of my old car's dissassembly and restoration in the event anyone ever wants it, along with one of the extra broadcast sheets. I have offered it up but the current owners don't seem to be interested in it. Hopefully someone will want it some day before my next of kin toss the stuff in the dumpster) [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/grin.gif[/img]

[Stefano]

I'll take it!

[Charley Lillard]

LOL...They were not interested in putting your kids thru college...

[njsteve]

LOL, But she already graduated from a state school, so they're off the hook now! So into the dumpster they go. [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/wink.gif[/img]