I was looking at a 71 B Body the other day and the owner pointed out something very strange to me. He pointed out that to his knowledge the drivetrain was all original and it certainly appeared that way but the part VIN stamping on the motor and tranny (which matched) were a few hundred digits off of the VIN on the vehicle. They both had the same initial numbers at 1E106...but the last 3 digits were different.

I was wondering what the factory process was that could explain this. It sounds like a different motor and tranny were grabbed and placed on the k wherever the K frame sub assemblies were assembled. Is that possible? Or was the VIN stamped in after the sub assembly was installed?

The reason I ask is that the claim is #'s matching but they clearly don't. However, on the flip side how likely is it that a complete drivetrain from another closely matched VIN built from the same plant at about the same time is transplanted into the car?

Has anyone else encountered such a thing?