Strange VIN Stamping - '70 'cuda 340 Trans Re-stamp?

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The engine and trans were bolted together before stamping

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True but what if there was a small issue with the trans after it was already in the other VIN car then fixed and reused?

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That ones pretty obvious...yes, a restamp, but not factory done, I've been reproing fender tags, and other assorted tags, restamping blocks and transmissions, carbs, etc, etc for quite a few decades, most trying to re-stamp a casting, overly concern themselves with the font size, and shape, trying to match the factory "style",...but what the novice misses, or is not aware of is the "cut" of the stamp itself,...the factory (Chrysler in this case) always used "Sharp Faced" punch sets, even on "soft" castings like carbs,...the person that re-stamped this, while doing a decent job in font match, blew it by using a "Flat Faced" punch set, which is intended for aluminum or brass, etc, etc...that's the reason for the heavy "strike(s)", after the first blow, they realized the error, and decided to continue, albeit, a little heavy handed though... a Flat Face punch on cast iron is like using a butter knife to carve granite, even if they struck the pad clean, they blew it with the wrong punch face

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Nice!

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Oh, yeah,
no debate there, I've always liked the 70-71 E bodies, had a 70 gran coupe in the family for over 30yrs! (Still miss that car!)

But, I guess I am wrong, not the first or last time, BUT help me understand this so I can learn something new, I'm not trying to argue just understand..

First, I naturally would've thought-
if the orig motor went bye-bye, the orig. trans. did as well, pretty common, Ive seen it many, many, many, many times, so why isn't it possible this trans is from a different E body?

Second, While i agree that its odd for an abusive Previous owner to alter numbers, if the trans came from another, different well taken care of car, (i.e. wrecked) it now makes sense.
BUT when has a previous owner ever needed a reason to do something odd?
We all know about those "previous owner horror stories" heck! I'm in one of those now lol, previous owners did really senseless, ignorant things and unfortunately "THOSE" previous owners never needed a reason to do senseless things...

Third, Those #'s CLEARLY look restamped, NOT factory,
BUT, even IF they are, why in the world would they have to restamp the "OB2" over and over again???? I count at least 5-6 different, repeated, "O B 2" strikes each, why? That prefix did not change, so THAT doesn't make sense to me.

Forth, I've never seen another with stampings like that (orig from the factory)
seen them plenty of times on cloned or faked cars though....
Not saying that yours is, obviously its not,
I just meant that whenever I've seen altered #'s, like that^
they were changed to hide, conceal, clone, cover-up or "create" a #'s matching car that isn't.
We've all seen them before.

Explain it to me please, is it just that there's no paint on the shift plate, correct font (easily done), lots of grime on it and a white "x" that makes it all legit?
Is that enough?
Thanks

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How about a conscientious dealer mechanic?

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Looks like a factory stamp to me.

My guess is that the person who was stamping the engine and trans forgot to change the VIN# prior to striking it, realized the mistake, corrected the VIN#, and then heavily struck it to cover up the mistake.

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Hmmmmmmmmmmm "What if" there is another trans with the numbers restamped on this trans with them under the numbers that you can't read A simple assembly line oops that someone caught. Two 4-speed transmissions attached to the wrong engine and caught by quality control. Instead of taking everything apart it's just so much easier to re-stamp both and keep the line moving.

Remember production was about a 1,000 cars a day back then and do you really think that they cared if 40-years later someone would say "oh for sure that's a non-factory restamp there because someone made a 4-speed out of an automatic to increase the value"

What would you do if you were the production manager and someone pointed out the assembly error with everything already bolted together?

I agree with the fact that the original numbers are still there and the re-stamped numbers are pretty darn straight to not have been done with a multi-stamp fixture like used on some assembly lines.

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I am restoring a '70 cuda 340 4 speed with a SPD of 2/26. I had always thought the trans was a matching assy but now I am not so sure. Take a look at this VIN Stamping. I had thought the fonts and size looked normal and I have seen some pretty crappy VIN stampings on both blocks and tranny's but until I looked closer this trans appears to have a different story.

For all practical purposes, this trans looked to be the original assy for this car. It has the correct 696 blue stencil on the housing. The assy date of the Trans is Jan 13, 1970 which is kind of early for MY SPD. My VIN is OB262398 but the VIN underneath looks to be OB253550. Is it possible that it is a factory screwup? Like I said ... all indications are that the trans is original to the car.

The stamp looks old and pretty close to factory font... in the '3' and '2'.

I know what most will think but am wondering if somehow the trans was mis ID'd at the factory and then overstamped with my cars VIN. Perhaps the other VIN had already been used? and was duplicated in error on this trans. Anyone ever heard of anything like that happening?

i have a 70 HP 440 block like that... has another vin stamped under it..not sure if it was a bad engine at the factory or a dealer restamp..they are correct FACTORY STAMPING FONT anyway.. had the engine 25 yrs..
Thoughts?

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Looks like a factory stamp to me.

My guess is that the person who was stamping the engine and trans forgot to change the VIN# prior to striking it, realized the mistake, corrected the VIN#, and then heavily struck it to cover up the mistake.

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It would have been a Challenger.

Both cars were likely scheduled for a mid-February build, but there is no way to know when either was actually built.

The engines & transmissions were stamped right before the matching body was lowered onto them.

These two cars may have been one right after the other on the assembly line & the worker doing the stamps simply neglected to roll the digits to the correct numbers the first time.

We may never know for sure, but I do not see any evidence of fraud on this one.

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