I've got a bud that recently inherited this old chevy that his grandpa bought new. His granddad was a mechanic and ran a shop until he was no longer able to work. My buddy had always been told that the engine in this car had came out of a crashed vette. He ran the numbers on the pad on the front of the engine and his reference sources indicates it is indeed a 283 from a 57 Corvette. He has yet to run the numbers on the back of the block or the heads. The question is...Is this engine worth passing on to a restorer or should he just hold on to it to say that he has it? Here's the car... The engine in question... And the cars original engine...
go to www.corvetteforum.com and ask the value. they will want to see proof of the stamped and cast numbers, so clean it up and get some pics. if it's the real deal sell it.
A Corvette engine might be worth more than a "plain jane" SBC, but it actually only fits 1 car to make it a numbers matching car. Yea, if you could find that car it would probably be worth a bundle. If the car was wrecked????????????? Larry T
I believe that the VIN number was not stamped on the blocks of the earlier cars; it started in the mid-60's. The early guys have it a little easier tha the mid-year and later folks.
worth good money to teh right person,,though beware 57 chevy and vette used same block,,so you nee all #'s to say vette
screw the motor i wanna put a battery in that thing and plug something in the the cool ass inverter on the firewall
.... 57 'Vettes came with aluminum valve covers, but even if they did not, the valve covers should have the "staggered" bolt pattern, that is, the top two cover hold down bolts are spaced closer than the bottom two-- True, and it looks like that may be the case. Also, there doesn't seem to be any accessory holes tapped into the heads........
Run all the numbers. If it's a Vette motor for real, sell it. But I wouldn't hold my breath on that panning out. Like I said in another post, it seems like every non-original or loose out of a car Chevy motor is a Corvette motor, I don't understand why Chevrolet made 10 times as many motors as actual cars....
As a current 57 corvette owner,and owned said car since1968, i can tell you by what i can see in the pictures it is not a 57 283 block last 3 digits of casting number would be 548 . If it was a said 57 corvette engine by the suffix on the pad, it would be worth a little money--if it was a dual four motor it would be worth a good amount, 548 blocks are not real hard to find,and the pads are easily restamped. The real money is in the heads-intakes and accys. Pm me if you want some other 57 corvette motor info
_______________________________________________________________ The motor, if legit is worth the most to a collector. To anybody else it's just another 283
Easy now fellas! Most of you are saying the same thing that he told me yesterday...it's not worth much without a 57 corvette to put it in. We're currently at the Turkey Run in Daytona and the car is still behind his grandpas old garage in Tn. So odds are I'm not going to have a shot of the pad today. My buddy isn't trying to claim it's a vette engine just so he can sell it for big $$$. His plan was to build the original engine that I showed lying in the back of the pickup to put back in the 65. After that he wanted to build the engine in the 65 to go in this truck that he also inherited. If anything he was disappointed that it was a 283...he was hoping that it was a 327. (and yes I saw the thread a few days ago about how it seems that every 327 came out of a vette and the mystery of why Chevy made more corvette engines then cars to put them in). He's fully aware that he still needs to check the numbers on the back of the block and the heads. It also appears that the 65s original intake and carb was used on this engine....no telling yet about the heads. I'll be sure to let you guys know what the other numbers turn out to read. We found all kinds of odds and ends lying around his pops old place... Another truck he was left.. And another truck... Cabinet full of carbs... And yes he was already into cars before these were left to him. This is his Z28...and no it's not a clone. And his driver (when it's not raining)
I'd say that '65 will be somewhat of a disappointment with that small of a motor. It would be so much better with a 327, but in actuality it is screaming for a big block! Later I would love to see the way they mounted that early block in there, in fact there is probably a thread where it would fit.
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