by Jim Wilson (Jim) » 02 Apr 2002 8:26
Bit late to get in on this thread maybe. But here goes anyway.
As Dave says, the chances of an engine block casting date being much older than a few months are slim. But the situation is different with Hemi's.
I am quite sure that Hemi blocks were cast in batches often well before they were used. Indeed I believe the last casting date for Hemi blocks (prior to the MP re-issue) was September 1969. Therefore a lot of '70 cars and all '71's would all have 9-69 casting dates on the block.
My Hemi Road Runner had a 'warranty' block. ( A new short motor was installed in the late 70's.) This was cast in September 1969, and had a build date of February 1970. There was no stamping on the VIN pad above the pan rail.
When replacement engines were purchased without a VIN stamping, it was a legal requirement that the VIN be stamped on the pad, but back then no-one bothered. Nowdays, if someone stamped the VIN of a Hemi car built around April/May 1970 onto that block, they could claim the car has matching numbers, and as long as the font is correct it would be hard to prove otherwise.
I have found that a lot of so called 'matching numbers' cars in the USA are not exactly what they seem. Stamping numbers is quite common on rare cars. Many don't have matching numbers even though the owner says it has. Then there's the gearbox. A lot of matching number cars don't have matching transmissions! Some people don't count the trans!
Anyway, I reckon the car above is probably Kosher.