Numbers matching means that a part (or parts) have a number that matches the VIN or a portion of the VIN. Often it only refers to the engine, in some cases other parts as well.
Watch a Barrett Jackson or Mecum Auction and many of these “Numbers Matching” cars bring higher prices. It is a unique attribute especially muscle and sports cars that were often modified over the years. For example there were just over 46k 1976 Stingray produced and having the original engine adds it to a much smaller number.
Since the L48 for #SR76 is the lower performance of the engine available in 1976, one might guess that they were replaced for more horse power over the years.
For #SR76 my intentions are not to create a contours level restoration, so it really isn’t that much of benefit but would be cool to know.
Welcome back to Average Guy’s Car Restoration. I’m still on the hunt for my C3 (I almost bought a 1971 Mach I – the price was right, but it has some ownership issues – they couldn’t prove who owned it!!)
Most of you know that I don’t have sponsors for Average Guy’s work. But I do not mind plugging something I enjoy or a product that works great.
You’ve seen a couple of posts on PetrolBox before. It’s no surprise that I’d present another.
They have multiple levels. This box is medium-priced. Check them out at mypetrolbox.com.
Enjoy the video.
I’ll have more coming up including bringing back some old favorites.
After finishing up what was a 9 hour day of just leaf spring work, I took a couple days off to recover (not as young as I use to be) and now it’s time to see if there’s any improvement in handling and ride with #ProjectSportsRoof. Oh…O.K. and to see if any ‘parts’ fall off. So I took the 73 Stang out for a walk.
Thanks for checking on #ProjectSportsRoof. So here is the last set of initial questions. Here is an image of the current set up: Any diagram I find has the hose vacuum from the Distr going to the Valve assy. The Valve assy has nothing attached which is located on the front …
Thanks for checking back in on #ProjectSportsRoof. My 73 Mustang doesn’t what to get it in gear so I have to troubleshoot the shifting linkage. For this round, I’m putting in new bushings to remove the slop when shifting. Here is the video: I’ll be tightening up the shift lever and linkage to …
Welcome back to Project Sports Roof (#ProjectSportsRoof). The struggle is real!!! You saw in the last video my replacement of the linkage that was lost by the repair shop (along with my new battery and started). This repair shone the light (as often happens with older cars) on a previous …
As I get ready to start the new round of mods for my 1970 Mustang Coupe, I’m reminded of a couple of issues that came up when I was assisting a fellow Mustang owner doing a trans – transplant. The first tip is partially dependent on what stage you are in …
Wrapping up the oil pan gasket and what’s next for the 68 RoadRunner?
Take a look:
I have to add my note and this might rub someone the wrong way but I am going to toss it out here.
I took my 1970 Mustang to a shop run by a guy I trust with my cars. After getting the Mustang back I leaked from two spots. When I asked his mechanic about the said “Old cars leak.” That phrase really irritates me every time I hear it. This day in age with all the improvement in gaskets from rubber to rubber coated metal to make your or form you own, this just no reason for your car to leak. After the incident above, I took my Mustang home and replaced the gaskets and drove it for about a week and then went back to my friends shop and had the mechanic look under the car…it was bone dry.
Unless you have a part that can’t be found there is almost no reason, given all the options, for your old car to leak. Having said that, Bill makes a good point – there are times when a leak, a non-engine killing leak, becomes to expensive or time consuming to fix. But if I know Bill, you’ll be seeing a video with him fixing all the leaks. (;^o)
Did you think I sold #ProjectSportsRoof? Nope. I’ve been busy and I’ve been serving as editor to another cool project – my constant reader Bill’s ’68 Plymouth RoadRunner (#ProjectBeepBeep). However, I have been doing some work on the sports roof and in this video you’ll see a little bling under the …
I’d like you to take a look at one of my constant readers classic muscle car. First let me say that Bill has been an a long quest to find a car to replace this car: Back in the day. It was a long search with lots of phone calls with many …
Feb 2, 2017 … I’d like you to take a look at one of my constant readers classic muscle car. First let me say that Bill has been an a long quest to find a car to …
Bill tries out a custom set of spark plug wires for #ProjectBeepBeep. Bill has more coming up on his 68 Road Runner and I might just have something to post of …
Feb 12, 2017 … Ready for some more #ProjectBeepBeep? Bill takes you through a few tips for restoring your B-Body door panels. Take a look: Great stuff!!!
Light week this week but here are your #AutoFactoids for the week of May 21, 2017.
May 22, 1929 – Goodyear Blimp took its maiden flight. Still provides some of the best auto racing coverage!!!
Goodyear Blimp.
First Goodyear Factory
Mr. Goodyear
May 23, 1875 – Alfred P. Sloan Jr. was born in New Heaven Conn. He headed up GM as President and guided it through some iconic car designs. He was instrumental in establishing the idea of make styling changes annually and planting the idea of (something we consumer dislike) planned obsolescence. He also established a pricing structure by sub-brand (Chevy, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Buick, Caddy) —referred to as the ladder of success, so that they did not compete with each other, and buyers could be kept in the GM “family” as their buying power and preferences changed as they aged.
Alfred P. Sloan – Time Magazine Dec 1926.
Alfred P. Sloan
May 26, 1906 – Mauri Rose born in Columbus, Ohio. This Racing Hall of Famer driver, placed second in the 1927 Indy 500. Actually won the Indy in 1941, but that was a tough victory, spanning two Maserati-powered Elgin Piston Pin Specials cars, after the first one had mechanical issues. He tossed a fit and the car owners pulled one of the other drivers from the race and give Rose that car.
The Pin
The Elgin Pin
What powered that thing? The Elgin’s “Power Plant”
Hope you all had a great Turkey Day!! Here is the line up of Auto Factoids for the first week in December!!! Nov 30 1960 De Soto ceases production. The last De Soto produced were really the Chrysler Windsor, most did not sale, even though dealerships continued to received cars after the …
Here are your Auto Factoids #AutoFactoids for the beginning of June, 2015. May 31, 1927 – Ford produced the last Model T. There is some debate as to actual date and it’s said that the 15th million Model T rolled off the production line on May 26th, 1927 and the Henry …
Kaiser-Fraser formed July 26, 1945 – The Kaiser-Frazer Corporation was the result of a partnership between automobile executive Joseph W. Frazer and business man Henry J. Kaiser. In 1947, the company acquired the automotive assets of Graham-Paige. Interesting enough, Kaiser had no automotive business experience. In 1953 the company became …
Here is your #AutoFactoids and Car News Now for this first full week of September 2015. Auto Factoids Sept. 7, 1954 – Production of Ford Thunderbird begins 1955 T-Bird 2002 Thunderbird Sept. 8, 1903 Preston Tucker was born in Capac, MI. While dubbed “Tucker Torpedo” during production no ‘Torpedoes’ were produced. Beautiful …
Here is your #AutoFactoids and Car News Now for this first full week of September 2015. Auto Factoids Sept. 7, 1954 – Production of Ford Thunderbird begins 1955 T-Bird 2002 Thunderbird Sept. 8, 1903 Preston Tucker was born in Capac, MI. While dubbed “Tucker Torpedo” during production no ‘Torpedoes’ were produced. Beautiful …
I remember seeing the first Mazda cars in the U.S. I was 12 or 13 and I recall thinking – Why? We still had the big 60’s cars and really didn’t see a need for the small cars. The first rounds fo the Japanese imports were well thought of, perhaps unfairly and reliability was an issue. But the Mazda has come a long way. I remember back in 1989-90 when the Mazda Miata (MX-5). It was a “girls” car (so I thought…don’t judgement) and dealerships were charging quite a bit over invoice and getting that price, at least out in California. But have things changed. See the times they put down in SCCA events and even at my local SCCA chapter where I run my Corvette, I don’t think less of this generation of Mazda.
The car had some ‘socialization’ issues and it took a few years to get a good network of dealerships in the U.S. However, by the mid 1970’s Mazda’s were emission compliant and figured out how to get 90 hp out of just 70 cubic inches.
1970 Mazda Luce Coupe
April 28, 1916 – Ferruccio Lamborghini born in Renazzo di Cento, Italy.
Ferruccio Lamborghini
Renazzo isn’t far from Modena, Italy, which is ‘Mecca’ for Italian cars. Ferruccio’s family were grape farmers and didn’t just jump in to designing cars, but started out in the tractor business Lamorghini Trattori. Then he started an oil heater factory that turned into an air conditioning factory. In fact he didn’t start Automobili Lamborghini until 1963. It’s a shame those car never caught on!!
Lamborghini Tractor
2017 Lamborghini Centenario
1963 350 GTV
Note: It takes me a couple of days to put these together – not working straight though, mind you – as I was getting ready to finish this up I ran across an article May 2017 edition of Hemmings Motor News (my personal favorite automotive magazine publisher) on the 1959 Lamborghini DAL 35 Super Tractor. The company is now part of SDF and they also sell other band name tractors like SAME, Dutz-Fahr and a couple of others. According the Hemmings article they use the Lamborghini Bull logo.
April 28, 1953 – Kaiser-Frazer buys Willys.
Kaiser-Frazer car production was a mixed bag in the 1950’s. Some typical 50’s cars were produced and some exciting like the Henry J and the Kaiser Roadster of 1954 and the Kaiser Darrin. The Frazer name had faded away by then and Kaiser purchased Willys for $63,381,175 and formed the Kaiser Willys Corporation. They exited the passenger car market to focus on utility vehicles, including the Areo-Willys. Kaiser took their business overseas to Argentina, Israel, Netherlands and continued make utility vehicles until 1962. By 1963 the company was called the Kaiser Jeep Corporation and was sold to American Motors in 1970.
Last of the passenger cars Areo-Willys
April 29, 1959 – Ford builds 50,000,000 car.
That car was a 1959 Ford Galaxie that came out of the Dearborn factory. It was a white 4 door sedan with the 292, engine. It was actually a Ford Fairlane 500 Galaxie and the first time Galaxie was used on a Ford car. Fast forward – but not too far – and the Fairlanes, Fairlanes 500, and the Galaxies were to become monster muscle machines in the mid to late 60’s!!!
Ford Fairlane 500 Galaxie – 50 Millionth Ford
Thanks for reading. Stay tuned for another episode for Average Guy’s Car talk.
Hope you all had a great Turkey Day!! Here is the line up of Auto Factoids for the first week in December!!! Nov 30 1960 De Soto ceases production. The last De Soto produced were really the Chrysler Windsor, most did not sale, even though dealerships continued to received cars after the …
Here are your Auto Factoids #AutoFactoids for the beginning of June, 2015. May 31, 1927 – Ford produced the last Model T. There is some debate as to actual date and it’s said that the 15th million Model T rolled off the production line on May 26th, 1927 and the Henry …
Kaiser-Fraser formed July 26, 1945 – The Kaiser-Frazer Corporation was the result of a partnership between automobile executive Joseph W. Frazer and business man Henry J. Kaiser. In 1947, the company acquired the automotive assets of Graham-Paige. Interesting enough, Kaiser had no automotive business experience. In 1953 the company became …
Here is your #AutoFactoids and Car News Now for this first full week of September 2015. Auto Factoids Sept. 7, 1954 – Production of Ford Thunderbird begins 1955 T-Bird 2002 Thunderbird Sept. 8, 1903 Preston Tucker was born in Capac, MI. While dubbed “Tucker Torpedo” during production no ‘Torpedoes’ were produced. Beautiful …
Here are your Auto Factoids (#AutoFactoids) for the first week in Feb. 2015!!! I think we can call this Kaiser Week as 3 of our factoid are related to the Kaiser auto manufacturing. In fact the month starts right off with Kaiser factoid. Feb 1, 1947 – Graham-Paige sold out to Kaiser. …
Got a few huge debuts this week’s Auto Factoids (#AutoFactoids), so lets get started. Feb 23, 1954 – Ford shows off the Thunderbird for the first time. Although the Thunderbird wasn’t available until 1955 it was in design. Originally it was going to be called the Vega!! 1955 T-Bird Feb 23, 1967 – …
I thought I’d take a minute and catch the readers up on #ProjectSportsRoof.
I wanted to touch up some of the engine bay components, horns, vacuum canister and battery tray. I didn’t want to alter some of these too much, I like having the numbers, logos and other info visible, not covered under a several layers of primer and paint. So these items were lightly sanded and then sprayed with primer and black engine paint.
Battery Tray – in the process of being sanded with dremel.
The horns were cleaned up with break cleaner then sanded by hand.
A lot of the paint just came off with the cleaning.
Horn in the process of being sanded.. Note the “LO” and other numbers. My goal is to keep them visible.
A coat of Eastwood Rust Encapsulator and then a primer coated applied – tried to keep the numbers, etc. visible.
A little more sanding and then some paint.
Vacuum Canister
Battery Tray and Horns
I think they came out O.K.
There is a quick video.
Coming up distributor install and transmission update.
If you look back at #ProjectSportsRoof post you’ll see the condition engine bay. During those videos I mentioned that I was going to clean it up and hit it with a rattle can. Again this isn’t going to be a concours restoration, it’s going to look nice and it’s going …
I’ve done all the clean up and all the adjustments necessary to get a good reading on the health of the ’72 351C engine in my 1973 Mustang. The next step is to check the compression. First up was to warm the car a bit and then pull the plugs. Here’s what the …
This is the wrap up on the compression testing for the 1973 Mustang w/ a 1972 351 Cleveland power plant. You’ll might have notices that I referred to the remote tester, which is my code for remote starter…yeah…that’s it!!! All of these tests were dry test and I should have done a …
Luxstang Wrote: I’m starting to get fed up with the car. The more I do on it the more seems to fail. Replaced the upper and lower control arms a few weeks ago. Took it for an alignment yesterday and the guy tells me he can’t adjust camber on the passenger side.. Turns out the hole in the rear ex-center washer is round so it no longer adjusts the camber properly. (Ok, when I replaced the control arms I could have sworn that washer was ok otherwise I wouldn’t have put it back in….) Now I gotta wait for 2-3 days for a new set of screws with washers to arrive. I had the wheels powder coated (and posted a thread about it) and I don’t like them anymore. The 18 inch rims rub with the new tires, I gotta get new ones but I don’t really want to either. The rear windows are out of the car as I’m waiting for WCCC to fix my pancake motors, so no interior in the back at all. Plus yesterday a big chip of paint flew off the rear quarter extension. I’ll need to try my painting skills on that…. I wonder if I shouldn’t just leave everything and simply drive the car into the ground as a daily driver and call it a day.
Hang in there with the Mustang, Luxstang, it will be even sweeter when you get it done!!!
My 73 is my second Mustang restoration (70 was my first) and my third personal restoration in the last few years. I can attest that you do run in to those periods of time when it seems that the car just doesn’t want to be restored.
Heck I bought and drove the 73, maybe 5-6 times and it bent a rod and burned a valve. Had the heads redone. Drove it 3 or 4 more times and then discovered a bottom end knock had to tear down the entire engine and send it out for machining and rebuild. While trying to get it back together I ran into wiring problem and drive train problems. Don’t even get me started on the rusted floor pans (now complete).
I restored my ’84 Corvette and I will tell you, there were day when I felt just like Luxstang (by the way he’s in Luxembourg). The Vette was powered by the infamous Cross-Fire engine. So many problems with the fuel system and multiple injector rebuilds, it was enough to drive you crazy.
Many folks do give up, you can find thousands projects on the internet looking for a new home.
But before you quit, go to the forums for you car, like Luxstang did, you’ll get some encouragement and maybe even helpful suggestions for getting through those periods. Con some friends or neighbors to give a hand. I found that a good motivator is to have neighbors come and see your progress. I have one neighbor that loves to look at what I’ve done and another (Dan T.) who has even spend more than a few hours giving me a hand with some of the tasks.
Restoring a car is not much different then most things you tackle in life. If you hang in there and stick it out to the end, it will be rewarding.
