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This appears to be a POP for a Canadian car.  Are they significantly different than a US car?  I did not see an engine code on it. 

68 cars - can you post a picture of the pitman arm? 

Right, if it was an N, that would tend to make more sense, but based on spacing it seems to be a 1.

OK, so I went back and took the "Joe Friday" approach to this.  What do we know?

JH code was supposedly only used for Camaro and Nova.

If the third stamped digit is a 1, then it would have to correlate with the Oshawa, Ontario Canada plant.

But from what we know, there were no Camaros or Novas produced at that plant.

JH was apparently not used for the Chevelle, and even if the stamping was 191355092 that still does not work
for a Chevelle (the JH code is not right for Chevelle either).

Full size cars ilke the Caprice were assembled at Oshawa, but nobody knows of any getting the JH engine.

Kurt, does anything look "disturbed" on the front pad stamping?   Do you think that mark between the 2 and the 9 is
just a contact mark?   I looked under high magnification and could not say anything looked "bad" on the front pad.

I never could figure out what the VIN was. 

I don't think we can put the COPO and Yenko cars in the same category when considering tailpan paint.  I have seen original 69 COPO cars, I remember a silver one in particular, that had regular body color paint on the tailpan.

Does anyone have an SS car that they know the history of the car from Day 1 that it left the dealership?  I would put a lot of weight behind what they think.

I am not sure if anyone would want to do this, and I am not asking anyone to do it, but if you tailpan is glossy, it would be interesting to see what it looks like without any wax on it.

I guess it is possible there could have been some variance, but ALL of the original ones I remember in the late 60s and early 70s (not the ones 40 years old that have been waxed) were not shiny.  Satin is what I would call them.

Talked to a friend who was a body and paint man for over 40 years and he said they were satin.  He said there were several different blends that were used, but there were not what you would call a regular gloss paint.  They did have to add flattening agents to the paint.  That information was provided to the paint reps from the factory.  Now I guess that could explain why there is some variance.

In my opinion, Jim Mattison would be considered an expert and his opinion was stated earlier in this thread.

Buddy and RamAirDave, thanks for the images of the paint in the trunk area. 

So "satin black" it is.  Right?

If you could send me a picture of that area with the VIN stamp I would like to see it too.

bcmiller@creighton.edu

Sometimes you don't get a good stamping because of the roughness of the block surface.

Looks like it could be OK.

Can you make it all out?  Is is something like 19L555192?

What is the date code on the front pad?

This is a 4 bolt main block with the large oil galley holes, right?

Date code of P8C05c is too early for the C to indicate an M22.

I have been trying to research the small c at the end of the date code on 1968 Muncies.
Have not been able to find much out yet.  Looking for someone that worked at the
plant at that time to ask some questions about the date stamping.

Buddy,

Thanks for the pictures.  Looks like I did it almost right.  I stopped at the center of the weather strip channel.  I had the weather strip out.  Looks like I should have painted it more. I will have to fix that.

What ever happened to that car?  Hopefully it is still around.   

I just repainted the tail panel on my car satin black (along with the hood - did the hood to have a look different than everybody else).  I am glad I used satin.  I did it that way because all of the SS cars that I remember were satin.

One question though.  Are there any diagrams as to where the black stopped?  I stopped about the center of the bumper (had the bumper off) on the bottom, but was not sure in the trunk area.  I went at about a 45 degree angle toward the trunk opening at the corners and stopped in the weather strip channel. 

Is there a casting date anywhere on the center housing? 

The 3138 shifter body was used for several OEM applications.

I took a look at that add.  I think I would give them a call and ask the questions.  It does look
like it has the correct style handle (bayonet style handle - not bolt on). 

They might have listed the wrong number in the add (they have 3128 and original was 3138)
or maybe that is just the number they are using now.   Sorry, I don't have more answers.