drwpb

What are your opinions on the stamp pad for a 71 LT1? Legit or concerned?

Thanks-

Hammerhead Fred

Lots of looks and zero response - a better/bigger/closer photo would help as it's difficult to really tell based on the one you have posted.
Based on what I can see the suffix is not properly aligned with the assembly date.

drwpb

Here are a few I tried to modify with contrast and black/white.

71 Green 454

States original paint, but the tag looks like it's been taped off and some over-spray.

drwpb

Current owner bought car from friend's widow several months ago. He doesn't have any documentation, but I agree the paint looks too good to be original. I'm more concerned about whether it's an LT1 or not. What else do you see in his photos?

BKarol

Looks like it is on the c3 registry: https://www.c3registry.com/index.php...4_dcYn_iihiVQE

CanadaGrant

I'm a bit skeptical because the larger engine plant stamp looks too wavy to have been done with a gang stamp. The stamp was seldom applied exactly parallel with the block edge but the letter/number combination should be in a straight line as it was applied with a gang stamp. That doesn't look straight. Don't see any broach marks either but that pad looks pretty dirty and they can sometimes be very hard or faint to see at the best of times.

theandies

I don't know if I'd trust this registry since I bough my car from the original owner and it shows my VIN as being a blue 1971 LT1 convertible and I have a base model War Bonnet Yellow Convertible.
Just take some white or green scotch-brite and clean up the pad a bit and post a better picture then our numbers matching experts can have a better look.

derekderek

The date and plant. V021? Then the CGZ is off to the right, high and stamped deeper and spaced wrong. The vin. The S is barely readable but the 1's either side of the S are very legible. And the 2 9's look high. I am no expert with no qualifications to pass judgement on a stamping, but...

BKarol

It was a link to only provide more information about the car that the OP might not have. There is no verification of it's accuracy.

Easy Mike

Concerned.

jhudec

The pad is not clear enough in the photo, plus that is not dirt on the pad, it is rust and as such that part of the pad will never show the broach marks.
I would like to see how the engine stamp matches up to the trans stamp.

71 Green 454

A.I.R. pump (smog) is missing.



Stamp pad comparison:
Yours


Another one

Revi

Shouldn't a 71 LT-1 have double hump heads?

Hammerhead Fred

He has the correct heads for a 1971 motor (double hump is 1970 and prior). The stamp alignment is the real concern.

Here's a couple more examples to compare. The broach marks are easily seen in the first pic and would be very difficult to fake.

Hammerhead Fred

...but there are others out there that can help your cause.

7T1vette

The pics where the 'CGZ' letters are uneven, not on the same line, and have odd spacing are restamps....no question. Whether the engine blocks are original/correct for the car depends on what documentation is available to prove that the number stamped into the VIN pad is correct. Still, it would be very unusual for most of the pad numbers to be done at the factory, but a few to be re-stamped and still be legitimate. I am dubious of those shown in this thread with "unusual" configurations.

joewill

that patina on the pad is decades old, argumentatively older than the restamp craze...
but I agree, not a typical factory stamp..
a car with an excuse. if you require original engine, you will run into skeptics.
if priced below original engine money, and all you want is the value, then buy it as NOM.

Hammerhead Fred

Whenever I see these "restamps" with the odd spacing only where the suffix code goes but no indication of a grind off, I wonder why they are able to get the VIN and Assembly code nice and pretty but cannot figure out how to align the suffix into the same stamp with the assembly code.

7T1vette

"Where there's a will, there's a way." If you've cloned an LT-1 engine out of your L-48 except for the 3-letter engine code, some creative dudes will figure out how to fill or shave off the existing code, then stamp in the proper letters to make it "official". Whether they are being fraudulent in trying to sell the car, or whether they are just wanting to show off something they wish they had, makes no difference. There is probably some legal issue in stamping different letters into YOUR OWN ENGINE...but I'll bet than no one has ever been prosecuted for doing so.