Is there a way to determine if a block came out of a specific car built in 1966? Reason I ask is that I bought a 66 and it had an engine that was clearly date cast into the next production year. I bought a really nice block from a fellow who got it from the guy who took the car apart some 30 or 40 years earlier. I bought it because its a perfect undamaged block, and the cast date was before the cars build date.

I doubt you can determine what car a 66 block came out of unless it was in a 68-up car and has a VIN on it. There were a LOT of 66 blocks cast that were used in 66-67-68 cars.

A 66 car motor is going to be stamped B426

There will also be an assembly date.

Another than that there is no way to tell what car it went in to

As Morty stated, the year model letter (B=1966, C=1967, H=Hemi engine) and the assembly date can offer you a good clue as to the engine POSSIBLY being from a certain car, but there is no way to prove that any engine came in any specific car until VIN stampings started in 1968.

That being said, it's far easier to use the assembly date to disqualify it as a possible original to a particular car simply because in most cases early year Hemi engines were assembled VERY closely to the cars scheduled production date. An engine built a month or more before or after the SPD of the car would be highly questionable. in most cases the engines were assembled within a week of the cars assembly. .02

While that may be possible for other engines, my friend worked at several engine plants and told me the Hemi production constituted a very small percentage of production volume so engines were batch built and stockpiled until needed. Thank you for the info on my car. I was hoping to be able to determine correctness. I knew it would be a long shot at best. I know this means a lot to others (im selling the car) but for me it really doesnt matter if my car came with the 3rd block assembled that day or the 35th, its a real Hemi thats fun to drive. All of your replys are appreciated.
Best Regards, Dave

cudacar340,

So what is it that are you trying to say exactly? Who are you trying to convince? Us or yourself?

My advice since you are selling the car? Just tell your buyers it's a replacement 1966 caste date block in the car and leave it at that.

Your '66 block won't be correct for a '66 vehicle.
Although it's a '66 casting, it appears the block in question came from a '68.

https://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/2045293/426-hemi-block-id.html#Post2045293

A block from a '68 into a '66 is still more correct, at least in appearance, than one of the aftermarket blocks from the last 20 years.

Oh! We are talking about THAT block? Like B5 Bee said, having a 1968 VIN automatically disqualifies it as a "possible" engine for your 66 vehicle regardless of when it was cast, and FWIW, MANY 66 and even 67 Hemi cars had blocks with casting dates in 1965.

Fixed it for you.

Sorry to resurrect such an old thread, but I am looking to purchase a 1966 Hemi car and was wondering if the following information seems plausible for this being a numbers matching car :

Vehicle production date is December 13th 1965
Casting Date : 8 -17-65
August / 17 / 1965
Engine Pad breakdown
B : 1966
H: 426 HEMI
12 - 16- 14
December 16th
14th motor of the day

I know that in most cases the engine casting and assembly date would usually be weeks to months BEFORE the scheduled build date of the car, but I have also heard that with Hemi cars this time frame was not always the case. Seeing as the engine assembly date is such a short time after the build date of the car I thought this could quite possibly be the original engine to the car but wanted to check with some others who are undoubtably more knowledgable than I am. Thanks!

That could very well be the original engine in that car. The scheduled build date of the car is not always the actual date it was built. Sometimes it can be built up to a couple of weeks later. But the stamping on the engine is the actual assembly date.

Agreed, But with a SBD date conflict. You will be forever questioning it.


My cars SBD is early April 1966, engine assy date is March 1966. I know for a fact its NOT the born with block.

BUT ,,,, my engine came out of was the original in a 1966 Coronet And the Coronets SBD date was 3 days off my cars SBD
Sadly the Coronet was burnt beyond repair in the 80s. The body was cut up and destroyed / scraped long ago.

For cars that were built very late in the production year, I have seen much larger gaps between the engine assy date and the scheduled build date of the car. DId they get caught up on hemi building and start stockpiling them?

As far as the 66 in question, the IBM card will have the shipped date as well as the scheduled production date. The larger the gap between the SPD and the shipped date, the more plausible the late engine assy date becomes, IMHO.

In my notes Im told the Coronet that donated its engine and rear axle for mine had a SBD of April 1st. That car was dark green , black inter, hemi 4spd 3.54Dana


My car has a SBD of April 4, My IBM card shows shipped date of April 14th 1966 .
Original selling dealer was George Byers and Sons , Columbus Ohio

it appears, yes, as the model year progressed there was more available HEMI inventory VS the plant waiting for engines to build the car early

but the IBM cards show when the car was "SCHEDULED" & when it was "SHIPPED" (it's gone, no longer Chrysler's & the liability changed) - it does NOT show when it was "BUILT" - a car could be still in Chrysler's possession (for days or weeks) for a number of reasons: unsold, waiting for transportation truck/rail/etc.

Where on the IBM card does it show the build date? I can see where it says shipping date (01/25)

On my '57 IBM card, the build date is on the right side, right above the shipping date...same for my '56.

My card is different than that

I'm not sure if this adds any clarity or just adds to the confusion, but the seller also sent me a picture of the original Certicard and it is dated 12/30/65. So if the car was built late, I'm guessing it couldn't have been that much too late if the customer took delivery of it on or about 12/30/65. So, just to confirm what we are looking at here:


Block cast date 8-17-65
Engine assembly date 12-16-65
Projected build date 12-13-65
Certicard stamped 12-30-65

I am assuming that the Certicard was embossed at the dealer at time of delivery to the customer? If so that does seem like an awful tight timeline to get the car built and shipped/delivered to the selling dealership all with Christmas in the mix.

well, to muddy the waters a little more.

there is a 66 Hemi Satellite now on BAT with its believed to be original block.

Vehicle SBD of April 21-66

Original paper work shows owner purchased date May 3rd 1966

IBM card shows Shipped date April 21 -1966

Engine shows assy date Feb 21 -1966