I feel silly for not knowing the answer to this, but I guess there is no such thing as a stupid question, I hope. Was GM still stamping S/N's on the blocks and such on LB9/L98's? I just bought an 88 GTA knowing it needs some engine work. I was planning on rebuilding it because I wanted to keep it original then realized I have never seen anyone selling a #'s matching 3rd Gen. Is there still such a thing as a #'s matching car or would I be just as well off to find a new engine? Thanks in advance.

 

No one advertises "numbers matching" simply because no one cares anymore. I'm sure 75 years from now maybe these cars will be collectible and "numbers matching" will make the car more valuable. There were just too many of these cars made and they don't have the "muscle car" mystic the older cars had.

I do believe that all chevy's have the serial number stamped on the pad in from of the cylinder head. You may have to remove some accesories to get to it.

 

BMmonteSS is right to some degree, they made a lot of our cars, and with a few exceptions (TurboTA's) they are not yet collectable. However, when I was in high school, I could buy GTO's for $500 all day long. Very few of them survived, and lo and behold, they same cars repainted and cleaned up are now $30,000 collector cars. In '66-67, they made around 80,000 GTOs A YEAR! Mustangs around 250,000 a year! Where are the prices on those? When the crappy ones die, and only the well-kept and loved ones survive, the price goes UP up up!

As our cars dry up in the junkyards and get closer to 30 years old, the more rare and special versions will start to increase in price if they are in good shape. Yes, 10-20 years down the line, it WILL matter if your car has ever been wrecked or has the original engine in it. But nobody discusses it now because there are still too many 3rd-gen beaters out there cheap. Just wait, you'll seeeeeeee


TA

 

When it comes to numbers matching... that doesn't always mean they came with the car. A numbers matching head casting # doesn't mean the head came with the car. An "All oriiginal" term would be better.

 

Not quite, in order for it to be "numbers matching", it's not just the casting numbers that have to match... the serial numbers stamped in the block which are unique to the vehicle also have to match.

 

I didn't say block I said head. Heads can be removed and replaced. So when you say a numbers matching head you are talking about the casting number on the head. There is no serial #. That doesn't mean that head came with that block. Understand?

You can also include distributor, alternator, intake manifold, etc...

 

Concourse "numbers matching" goes beyond simply the part casting number, numbers matching means that the date codes also need to be "right" or "match" the month and year that the car was built.(block, heads, distributor, starter, alternator, trans, rear end, all have date codes on them, and these dates should not preceed the build date of the car by more than 4-5 months, and certainly can't be after the car was built. Many cars have the car's VIN code stamped into the block, but having the original block and having a numbers-matching car is not the same thing.

TA

 

With that info, I guess that makes up my mind to stick with the engine I have and get it rebuilt. I know there a lot of things I could do with my car, and I know the general concensus is to dump my 305 in favor of a 350, but as TA said, given a little time, that all original or numbers matching car will be worth it. True there were a lot of our cars built, but I know only about 14% of them came with a manual transmission. On top of that, the majority were Formula's/TA's and not many GTA's. I can imagine it would have been hard opting for a smaller engine just to get the MM5, but I'm glad whoever ordered my car did it. Too bad Pontiac didn't put the L98 in with a stick, that would have been the bomb.

 

GTA's are not really rare, but 5 speed GTA's, especially with Digital dash and/or t-tops are. If it's a rare color, that is better still. Ironically, if they had made a 5.7/5 speed, there would have been billions of them out there, and the value of a stick car would have been decreased.

Keep in mind it will not really show significant value increase for years. Most of the older Muscle cars were produced in pretty significant numbers as stick cars, but those are the ones that got manhandled the most and comparatively few survived. It's not just how rare it was at production, but how few survive that will effect it's value. If I hear about you burning other Stick GTA's, you're gonna be in big trouble!!!

Most importantly, have fun with it. It's a cool car, and there are very few clean stock ones left. Take it to a few car shows and see if you can get feedback and collect some hardware. You'll at least make some friends.

TA

 

Unfortunately it doesn't have either the Digidash or T-tops. It does have leather interior, which is really about all it has going for it. I'm not sure how many actually got leather, but I know that the vast majority I have seen are the standard cloth. The color is the 87U - Med Gray which is the only color I would have bought. This was my dream car when I started highschool, course it was only a year old then :^(

As soon as I get the engine done, I will definately be off to the shows and most definately NOT off to the races. I am going to have to rebuild my cassette tape collection just so I can go cruising.

On the keeping it original, one of the shops I have been looking at wants to bore it .30 over. Is that something I should consider, or for value sake in 15 years would that make a diference (adverse), or would I be better off to keep it at the 305. Heads, Cam, Intake, Exhaust, any mods of that type I can keep the original parts and put them back on anytime. Once I mess with the block, it is that way forever. Thoughts?

 

You might think about pulling the 305, and storing it away, and enjoying the 350.

I have a friend that just did that to his TTA. The original, #s matching engine is safe in storage, and he can have fun with his modded V6, without worrying about the original engine.