396 Crank Question

[novaman_69]

I bought a 396 block for my Nova resto, date coded and everything. I believe that I am going to deck the block and I was wondering if it is completely legal to stamp it as a numbers matching car??

[Adam's 55 Chevy]

Probably not illegal but is it ethical to sell it as such? Your call on that one.

[wendell]

You don't have a numbers matching car. There for you shouldn't represent it as such. You have a car with a block that was cast around when the original block was cast.

If you're talking about restamping the block, don't do it. Nobody that's in the numbers game will be fooled and they'll be forced to assume that the entire car is faked.

[novaman_69]

I was never planning on re-selling the car as a numbers matching or anything like that. That wouldn't be fair and I don't like people who try to rip others off. I plan on keeping this car forever but just want to make it as original-looking as possible. The original 396 was blown apart years ago so there is no way to make it factory numbers matching. I just thought I would get some opinions. I will probably just leave it as is then. Thanks guys.

[Skip Fix]

If you deck it leave it blank and just tell them same casting # was as close as you could get(still a big plus for those numbers kind of guys) and was decked to get a precision rebuild.

Here in Texas we have a deceptive trade Pracitces law that gets you triple damages and does apply to anything that is trepresented as something it is not.

[MonzaRacer]

As for me I would stamp something very cleaver on the pad ,do not try to restamp it for "authentisity" as if anything would happen it could also be construed as insurance fraud.
Friend had a show car , got hit ,he tried to restanp block as it wasnt stock(was a warranty block) well insurance found out and tried to sue as they had paid some serious bucks for a nearly authentic block (it was 6 numbers off from his original number block). If I had my druthers I would just leave it blank or stamp your name or something but do not try to recreate your original numbering.
As for me i would have just squared anyold 396 block after the build date of the car as it could be construed as a warranty block (ie previous original owner blew one or more up.)
Good Luck

[novaman_69]

Yeah I think that I will just leave it as it. I do not want to get myself into any mess with the insurance company over a few numbers. I figure that the block is at least a "date-correct" 1969 396. Thanks for all the opinions fellas!