54 stamp pad

[Doug L.]

Re: 54 stamp pad

I will give it a try.

[Chris S.]

Re: 54 stamp pad

Tim - I will shoot you the numbers off my engines as well.....

[Chris S.]

Re: 54 stamp pad

There also is a list of engine sequence numbers in Nolans book as well.

[Mike M.]

Re: 54 stamp pad

chuck: there is a 54 vet here in cumberland that has been owned by an acquaintance for at least 25 years. its a "carcuss" , i.e.., body and frame and little else. it came from RL Williams in the early 80's. isn't too bad a body/frame. owner hasn't touched it since he bought it. he has been gathering up parts tho. regards, and merry christmas. see ya next month. mike

[John S.]

Re: 54 stamp pad

Hi Tim, Bill,
Thanks for explaining this. It makes sense now that I understand that the blocks were destined for not just 54 Corvettes but for any Chevy 6 cylinder application.

What still bothers me is the starting over with block IDs each year at 001001 (this number seems to be the starting VIN number for all years from 1953 through 1956). Given this block is stamped 0318211 minus 1001 means there were 317,210 6 cylinder blocks cast between January 1, 1954 and this block. I find that hard to imagine.

To clarify, I was inspecting this car before making an offer on it. I do not own the car. I saw it on eBay where it was a no-sale. I wasn't willing to bid sight unseen so I kept in touch with the owner and went to see the car yesterday. Now I'm trying to evaluate what to offer for it. My only other Vette restoration was the '64 L84 that I have now. I learned in spades that one never does a restoration without getting upside down financially, thus my desire to inspect this one thoroughly before I made an offer. What I seem to have found is that it is un-restored and basically original with a few exceptions (coil, radiator cap, distributor cap, oil cap, master cylinder, windshield, shocks, etc.), all items I would have expected to have been replaced. The main items, block, head, valve cover, transmission, wiper motor, radiator, generator, carbs (missing 1 tag) seem to be original. The car was apparently Pennant Blue originally but has been re-sprayed red. My effort now is to estimate what it may cost to restore it and subtract that cost from what I see nicely restored cars selling for. Unfortunately I didn't take photos of the stamp pad. Sorry. My concern now is your statement about the multiple strikes. The thing that seemed odd to me was that the leading zero was separated from the rest of the number by a space that would have accommodated maybe 2 additional digits. In my original post I separated the zero from the rest of the number because of this.
Doug

engine blocks for 54 production begin in august of 53. by January 1 over 500,000 blocks were probably assembled. remember that Tonawanda and Flint are assembling about the same amount of blocks and both are beginning from 0001001.

[Chuck G.]

Re: 54 stamp pad

LOTS of 235 engines/cars produced in 54. Not all were 911 blocks, but someone with more ambition than me can add up the production numbers for the year. This chart includes both Flint and Tonawanda engines.

1954 Passenger Car Models	Seating:	Body Style:	Fisher Model:	Total U.S. Production:
Bel Air - 2 Door Sedan	6	1011WD	2402	143,573
Bel Air – Hardtop - 2 Door Sport Coupe	6	1037D	2454	66,378
Bel Air - 4 Door (Townsman) Station Wagon	8	1062D	2419	8,156
Bel Air - 2 Door Convertible	5	1067DTX	2434	19,383
Bel Air - 4 Door Sedan	6	1069WD	2403	248,750
210 Deluxe - 2 Door Sedan	6	1011W	2102	194,498
210 Deluxe - 2 Door (Del Ray) Coupe	6	1011WA	2124	66,403
210 Deluxe - 4 Door (Handyman) Station Wagon	6	1062F	2109	27,175
210 Deluxe - 4 Door Sedan	6	1069W	2103	235,146
150 Special - 2 Door Sedan	6	1211W	1502	64,855
150 Special - 2 Door Utility Sedan	3	1211WB	1512	10,770
150 Special - 4 Door (Handyman) Station Wagon	6	1262F	1509	21,404
150 Special - 2 Door Sedan		1269W	1503	32,430
150 Special - 3 Door Sedan Delivery	2	1271	1508	8,255
Corvette	2	2934	2934	3,640

[Chuck G.]

Re: 54 stamp pad

chuck: there is a 54 vet here in cumberland that has been owned by an acquaintance for at least 25 years. its a "carcuss" , i.e.., body and frame and little else. it came from RL Williams in the early 80's. isn't too bad a body/frame. owner hasn't touched it since he bought it. he has been gathering up parts tho. regards, and merry christmas. see ya next month. mike

Makes you wonder if they belong together.

[Tim E.]

Re: 54 stamp pad

Chris - I think I've got the ones in Nolan's book and a list that the SACC put together many years ago. I'd appreciate yours if you don't mind!

Thanks: tim.ehlers@att.net

[John L.]

Re: 54 stamp pad

Help me here a bit......
It was my understanding that the 1953 designated Flint production (F5310xxx) ended around late November 1953 and then the designated 1954 production begun there on the pilot line with a handful of 1954 Flint (F5410xxx) production cars built between the end of November 1953 and late December 1953). Production was then moved to the new St. Louis line in early January 1954 where production resumed (S5410xxx).

Facinating to learn about the early Corvette production - but I want to make sure I am correct in my understanding so please correct me if I am wrong here...

Good Luck Doug on your potiental purchase....I have a very early January car currently being restored.
John

[Wayne L.]

Re: 54 stamp pad

Doug-
I am helping a Chapter member work on his 54, VIN E54S001631. SLAD=3-16-1954. The engine was cast C 9 4, March 4, 1954. The pad is stamped 0407879F54YG. The 6th and 7th digits, "79" were stamped individually. The issue we have with this engine is that we cannot say for sure that this engine is original to this car.
All 1953 thru 1956 pads were stamped in this format, 6 cylinder or V-8.
I am restoring a 1955 engine for another Chapter member. It is stamped 0261428F55F. Again, the "2" and the "8" were stamped individually. This is a passenger car block, but the pad stamping format was the same.

[Tim E.]

Re: 54 stamp pad

Wayne - Here is some more data from my database. It strongly suggests that the engine serial number (0407879F54YG) on your chapter member's engine is original to the car (VIN 1631).

VIN (leaving off the leading E54S00) / engine serial number (leaving off the trailing F54YG) / block casting date (if known):

1502 / 0342556 / B234
1548 / 0393958
1585 / 0299179
1602 / 0342427
1609 / 0374576
1631 / 0407879 / C94 (this is your chapter member's car)
1659 / 0375086 / C14
1675 / 0615623 (this appears to be an engine replacement)
1689 / 0414408
1693 / 0414355
1697 / 0414353
1769 / 0435155
1814 / 0434796 / C114
1822 / 0414529 / B84

Sure looks like a good fit to me! Tim

[Wayne L.]

Re: 54 stamp pad

Tim-
That is very good news! Thank you for maintaining and updating this data base.
Wayne