1969 302 VIN off by 1 number

[1MeanBull]

hi, i am new to this site as far as registering, but been here many of time researching. I have a 1969 Camaro Z/28 unrestored, but painted in late 70s, with 37,000 original miles loaded with factory inspection markings, the front spring still have factory tags still attach, and have the cars protect-o-plate. I fingered I would start documenting all my finding and get pictures of date codes, and VINs off the tranny and the block using Jerry MacNeish fact book. found everything as was mentioned in his book,  but was having a really hard time with locating the VIN on the block(which is in the car). so I started with removing the paint with paint stripper and a brass brush, and finally number started to appear, I had to use a brass wheel to clean it up but was able to get the 5 numbers to appear. and what I found really confused me! the last 5 number should have read 57910 as on the tranny, but what I found was 57909! off by 1 digit. the block is correct for a June assembled car 3970010, with a May 6 9 date code, so my question is has anyone else come across the same situation, or ever heard of this happening, and if so is this car more or less desirable? i have not been able to find anything on the net about this. I did find an article on this site about a car VIN on the firewall behind the blower fan off by one number. hopefully someone can shed some light on this matter. thanks, John

[HOT3O2]

Would love to see pic’s of your car and know more about it John. And welcome to the site.

[69Z28-RS]

I viewed and considered purchase of a '68 Z28 a few years ago that had the last two digits transposed on the engine; all else was original...  While it's difficult to say 50 yrs later, I do think factories sometimes screw up, and sometimes those screwups around found and corrected, while other times the screwup makes it out of the factory.

Note:  you should NOT consider changing anything on your car in an attempt to 'make it more correct' by the judging standards; that would make the situation MUCH worse!   Just consider the error to be a 'screwup' and proceed with documenting/notating your car's details.   I suggest making yourself a 'digital book', documenting each part, PN, and date code with photos and details in your 'book'.   I've been doing that for several years now with my own '69 Z28...

If you frequent this site, issues will come up that will have you running to your garage/car to 'check yours'.. and that's a good time to get that photo that you haven't had time to get yet...

Good luck with your car, and remember 'LESS is better' when it comes to cleaning, changing/etc with an original car.

[Mike S]

 The block and tranny were stricken with the VIN during same time so perhaps the error was seen when the block was first struck and the correction made before striking the tranny. It happens! My 67 L35 block was struck with two errors. The errors are the VIN struck should have been 7L153767 and it was stamped L7153761. After researching on CRG I have learned there were a few blocks stamped the same way with the 7L reversed as L7. The number 1 and 7 were likely a visual mistake by the person who set the types in the gang stamper.  You can see my pads error here in reply #38 http://www.camaros.org/forum/index.php?topic=10311.msg77958#msg77958
Here is a past thread on this topic: http://www.camaros.org/forum/index.php?topic=16908.msg153545#msg153545

Mike

[bcmiller]

John,

As stated, it is likely just a factory error and no reason for concern.

Sending you a PM with a couple of questions.

[KurtS]

Can you send me a picture of the trans and engine VINs? Curious if they are the same fonts.
KurtS2@gmail.com
Thanks!

[1MeanBull]

hey kurt, the font is gm correct. I will post pictures this weekend.

[KurtS]

There is not one 'gm correct' font, several fonts were used.