Ok guys need a little help here, i am appraising this car and the story with this U code 440 375 horse car is that the original engine was pulled out of it years ago and the guy went back to the shop and got his engine back years later and managed to get the engine back. So looking at cracking the numbers on this old girl a few alarm bells went off as far as this being a matching block car. The original trans has long gone BTW
Car is a very original 1970 Cuda built at the Van Nuys plant, build date according to fender tag was May 5, 1970, the block has on the top pad F440 and 2 10 which i take as being Feb 10th build date of engine, which sounds too far away from build date of car to me, alarm bell one. The casting date of the block is Jan 14, 1970 nearly 5 months ahead of the build date of the car alarm bell two. The VIn stamp on the block looks to be very uneven and inconsistant on the depth of the stamps, alarm bell three, and the final is there is no stamps on the drip rail of the oil pan.
So could i get experts comments on this pickle, the car is heavily documented with broadcast sheet and window sticker, special order by the original owner (now deceased) and one other thing the intake manifold is dated Nov 20, 1969. Particulary the font on the VIn stamp is it correct for Van nuys plant? and is it possible the spacing on the font to be inconsistent, and the time delay of Feb 10 engine assy date to May 5th car build? the door tag has build date of April 1970. Did the late 440's have the drip rail PT440 stamps with julian date code or not? i know early 1968 blocks did.
thanks
neil
pretty typical from LA - their VIN stampings are pretty "bad" - here's a block VIN pic from a LA 440+6 GTX I used to own
"scheduled" last week of E-body production at the LA plant, but built at least the week earlier in April - the engines were built in Trenton, MI & had to be shipped to LA
NO "PT440" stamp in '70.
:takealook: broadcast sheets are pretty RARE from LA, can you share some pics of the broadcast sheet / window sticker?
here's a 383HP that was cast & assembled in April 1970 & Installed in a Plymouth B-body in LA in July 1970 :takealook:
thanks guys here is broadcast sheet and window sticker which is a two page items as it had pretty much every option, also has two fender tags
Looks normal to me. And that build sheet is super rare. Not many LA built cars got sheets. If you want to decode it....
https://decoder.e-bodies.org/1970-mopar-build-sheet-broadcast-decoder/
Thanks guys much appreciated, , the broadcast decode should be designated, the next 7th wonder of the world ! nice to know how rare that broadcast sheet is, this car has every piece of paperwork since new, original bill of sale, and its service records a pretty cool car, loaded with options.
Yes: Thats looks like a great car.
As a number match U code owner with two build sheets (Hamtramck build) and a fender tag, with fair history back to 76, I'll attest you've found an extreme rarity. I also had someone try to get me with a fake restamp 383 in a JS27N0B. I have those pics on another device. I look at where the block vin meets the 30is degree angle on the stamping pad for a re-machine cut as well as the radius of the cut grain. Both are good places to verify.
Kevin