Quote:

I found 869 on the passengers side of the trans hump on dad's 73.




Are the numbers painted directly on the bare metal, before being dipped? If so, I wonder if it has to do with welding on the brackets for the console and/or shifter. I'd guess both console-shifted autos and floor-shifted manual trans car trans tunnels would get additional 'work' versus a column-shifted auto car, due to needing either some brackets welded on or a hole cut.