C3 Corvette Frame Serial Numbers

[Robert R.]

Re: C3 Corvette Frame Serial Numbers

Jim,

Here are shots of the frame VIN stampings from my '74 Coupe. As you can see they are in the location that Terry described in an earlier post. A picture is worth a thousand words and hopefully will help you locate the stampings on your car. I assume the location would be similar on on most C3's.

Bob

[Bradley D.]

Re: C3 Corvette Frame Serial Numbers

I agree some can be very faint to view.

[Joe L.]

Re: C3 Corvette Frame Serial Numbers

Agreed, especially regarding the birdcage.
Restoration costs could be prohibitive. If the birdcage is bad then potentially the firewall has to come apart.
It may go along with one of my sayings - "Even if you got it for free you couldn't afford to restore it."

Patrick------

This reminds me of a story that I think I've told here before but I'll tell it again now:

About 25 years ago I was casually looking for a 1965 Corvette coupe to buy. A friend of mine found a guy with one for sale for $16,000 and we set up a meet so I could see it. The car was white and on first glance it looked OK. When I looked under the car I could see the frame suffered from severe corrosion ( I immediately knew it lived a lot of its life outside California). When the guy saw me look at the frame, he immediately dropped his price to $13,000. Then, when I opened the door, because the car was white, I could see rust color coming through the paint in the door jamb area. So, I knew there was big-time birdcage corrosion problems. I turned to the guy, told him that I didn't want to insult him but if he offered to GIVE me the car, I'd have to think about it. This is an absolutely true story.

[Joe L.]

Re: C3 Corvette Frame Serial Numbers

Based on what was shared, I believe this frame is candidate for blasting and fixing. I see topical scale not structural issues beyond repair! I would save the OEM/born with frame at all costs.

Dan

Dan------

When a frame has pitting-type corrosion, which this frame has, it has, by definition, structural damage. Pitting-type corrosion removes significant amounts of metal and, consequently, weakens the frame. Cosmetically, the pits can be "obliterated" and the frame rendered smooth by using a Bondo type methodology. If you don't mind having a "Bondoed" frame, I suppose this would be OK. For me, I'd rather have a NEW frame than a Bondoed original, rusted out frame. And, by the way, the Bondo will not restore any structural integrity to the frame---strictly cosmetic (and definitely not original---no original frames were Bondoed).

[Dick W.]

Re: C3 Corvette Frame Serial Numbers

Dan------

When a frame has pitting-type corrosion, which this frame has, it has, by definition, structural damage. Pitting-type corrosion removes significant amounts of metal and, consequently, weakens the frame. Cosmetically, the pits can be "obliterated" and the frame rendered smooth by using a Bondo type methodology. If you don't mind having a "Bondoed" frame, I suppose this would be OK. For me, I'd rather have a NEW frame than a Bondoed original, rusted out frame. And, by the way, the Bondo will not restore any structural integrity to the frame---strictly cosmetic (and definitely not original---no original frames were Bondoed).

What I read is that Jeff Reade looked at the photos and made his comment based on them. I have fixed worse looking frames than that. At least three of them have obtained Duntov and Bloomington Gold. WITHOUT THE USE OF BONDO

[Joe L.]

Re: C3 Corvette Frame Serial Numbers

What I read is that Jeff Reade looked at the photos and made his comment based on them. I have fixed worse looking frames than that. At least three of them have obtained Duntov and Bloomington Gold. WITHOUT THE USE OF BONDO

Dick------

I used the term "Bondo" in a generic sense. I don't see how a frame with deep pitting could be cosmetically repaired without using some sort of filler material which would add no structural integrity to the frame. The only exception I could see would possibly be welding and subsequent grinding. To me, that would be a prohibitively costly and time consuming effort and would not result in a surface finish as-original.

[Jeff P.]