Engine dating question

[hurlbird]

With all of this talk what does the market have to say about numbers? Is there really a great difference in value? I assume the following scenarios impact value from less (decrease) to more but by how much do you think?
1. wrong engine (year) -XX%
2. Correct year wrong month - XY%
3. Correct year and correct month, wrong VIN- YY%
4. Matching VIN- N/A

Or is it black and white Original to car vs. Not?

with other makes and models I don't see a big difference and that difference seems to be fading with all of the LS swapping going on.....

[gt350shelb]

location and yes smaller size font  8t015357  on my car

[gt350shelb]

[Coralsnake]

I don't see thread related to "concours", contrary to some others. It was presented as identifying authentic/original motors. That does not apply to 95% of cars even if they are concours cars.

There is no doubt mistakes happened and numbers were stamped lightly making them difficult to find and hard to read.

There are so few people that care and appreciate matching numbers I personally look at the values as the values and if you want to go the extra distance the equation is value + x for those elite cars.

We have to remember what the purpose of these cars was and why they were built

[shelbymann1970]

With all of this talk what does the market have to say about numbers? Is there really a great difference in value? I assume the following scenarios impact value from less (decrease) to more but by how much do you think?
1. wrong engine (year) -XX%
2. Correct year wrong month - XY%
3. Correct year and correct month, wrong VIN- YY%
4. Matching VIN- N/A

Or is it black and white Original to car vs. Not?

with other makes and models I don't see a big difference and that difference seems to be fading with all of the LS swapping going on.....

It has been mentioned by  others that possibly the whole package should come into play? Suppose you see a rust free original panel car with a correct non original engine in the car next to a "frankenstein" rust belt car that is numbers matching but most of it's metal replaced with Dynocorn metal. All other things equal like condition and correctness. Which car would you rather have? Is the soul in the engine or the body? That is then up to buyers to decide. For most of my 45 years as an adult owning these cars numbers matching never came into play with the value. Most of us didn't even know blocks were stamped. I was much more concerned I didn't have a 390 or 410 with 428 CJ heads than whether or not the engine was original. That was for the Chevy boys because the vin didn't contain an engine code. I've seen world records set with non matching engines. a 67 L88 Vette, Milt Robson's old 71 HEMI Cuda vert. I'm sure the Coralsnake sold for really good $$$. I'm tired of people picking/debating that 66 Shelby on BaT  for the stamp over block. They should concentrate on the whole car as a package. So someone stamped a block for a vert, then who knows, lunch break or what ever then stamped the next block the same and has an Oh crap moment and stamps over the vert vin with the correct sequence numbers and to me, the "8" still being there isn't a "Ah HAH!" moment as the worker could have been hurrying to fix his mistake.

[98SVT - was 06GT]

With all of this talk what does the market have to say about numbers? Is there really a great difference in value? I assume the following scenarios impact value from less (decrease) to more but by how much do you think?

I matters enough to the bottom line that people will restamp parts to increase the value.

[Road Reptile]

Hi to folks who really study collector cars.
No matter what type of collectible it is--car--coin--toy--the basic rules of condition,documentation,and amount produced always are
key factors in value. In the case of an engine block or assembly if this is an original it still may be worthless if improper storage has
corroded critical machined parts or it has cracked. I think it is more important to find out why it was removed in the first place, and
what its current condition is....will it be practical to save/restore this engine ? or is it just old metal. If it was a special casting like a
302 tunnel port block-from a car with documented race history this may be worth the effort. If it is a 2 bolt main 302  the one that
is currently in your car may be healthier and best left in place. As a few have mentioned it may not be worth much as it is from a mass
produced car nothing more. Sometimes the seller needs to verify that there is a good reason to finally say it has gone back to the
current owner, and hopefully you can agree on something.  Good luck with whatever takes place.

[hurlbird]

I appreciate your thoughts... I personally am of the opinion that matching numbers is great, but period correct is enough for me so that all elements appear as they did from the factory. I'm a stickler for that. VIN on the block in a location that cannot be seen from the naked eye isn't terribly meaningful, but given the chance I'd rather have it of course. That said we will see what happens here, and quite frankly should it be the one i would leave the car alone and put it in the corner of my barn since my car runs great as is!