lookin to track down info on my VIN..Just bought this one and could use some help. am in canada..thnx Pete

thats kind of vague...

what kind of info..

the vin really doesnt have that much useful info in it.

in 72 they added a little info about the engine in the VIN..

69 VIN are useful only for date code matching if your engine/tranny vin dont match.

my production number is 33512... so i know that mine was the 33,512th made out of 38762 made that year. this means my dates codes should fall near oct of 1969 (30963
was the last one made in sept and they made about 2800 per month, 69 was a huge production run and lasted through december of 1969. so if your rear end is stamped oct 13 1969 and your car was an early number like #01979 you know it isnt the original.

also.. sometime you can have an "original" engine that isnt original. in rare cases an engine would be fail before it shipped from the factory. usually these were fixed and the car just sat on the sidelines until the engine was fixed (when youre cranking out 2800 cars a month.. sometime it wasnt immediate) but some where shipped with another engine. maybe a left over from the last year.. or just another number that didnt match any corvette made that year.

often times a counter-swap was done on bad engines under warranty rather than repairing them at the dealer. ive heard this is because there were more labor hours in an engine swap than many of the minor repairs. this is kind of like the brake pad replacement scams that chevy dealers sometimes still do.. the customer is happy because he got a new engine and the dealer sticks it to chevy on the labor.

other things can be telling by production number too..

for example later there are some differences in late and early model 69's.. like the deck lid to door pillar weatherstrips.. the proportioning valves, etc.

some late 69's had 70 coded parts on them.. "normally" production wouldnt run to dec.. an example is my rear end.. even though it is date coded at 10-13-69.. it has a 70 style casting number... CAU instead on AU. also my M-21 has a drain plug.. 1970 M-21's had plugs, only 69 M-22's had plugs. yet my transmission VIN matches and date code matches. this consistency can give you an idea about how the car was treated. the accuracy of the odometer, etc... but it is by no means a magic bullet in figuring out what your car was originally.

here is a stats page

http://rowleycorvette.com/stats69.html