Real or fake 63 409 Bel Air?

Jerry B

Well Known Member
If anybody is still interested in this, I was looking thru a Muscle Car Classics June 1992 magazine. There is a picture of a Brent Rhodes 409 1963 2 door sedan on the line at the 1963 Winter Nationals. Sure looks like the engine emblems are on the front of the front fender.
 

1964SuperStocker

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 3
If anybody is still interested in this, I was looking thru a Muscle Car Classics June 1992 magazine. There is a picture of a Brent Rhodes 409 1963 2 door sedan on the line at the 1963 Winter Nationals. Sure looks like the engine emblems are on the front of the front fender.
Show us a picture but keep in mind you can drill holes anywhere on these cars and put emblems on. Plus up front of the fenders is so much easier to get access to without removing wheel well or pulling fenders off of these cars.
 

Jerry B

Well Known Member
Rhodes 63 409.jpg


This is the magazine that shows the 63 409 at the Winter Nations in 1963. It's not a very good copy but the best I could get. The actual magazine magazine image is a little better but you can't tell for certain. 1964Superstocker has a good point. That is in line with some other posts on this forum that have concluded that trying to validate that a car actually came off the assembly line with a W engine is an "exercise in futility".
 

409gang

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 1
Weren't the blocks and the 4 speed transmissions stamped with the last digits of the VIN? Unless they restamp the block, and transmission, and have an original VIN to match, it should be straight forward.
Yes the blocks and transmissions were stamped with the last half of the vin starting with the letter for the assembly plant. This is the same number that is on your title and the vin plate on the door jamb. Here are 3 photos of the engine block, door jamb or hinge pillar vin tag, and the Missouri title on a real 409 car I own. The Missouri title also shows 59 hp which is correct for the 409 engine. The hp of the engine and type of transmission was noted in the suffix of the engine assembly date, on my car its QC which is a 340 hp manual transmission. I hope this helps you understand how they were marked, if your car is missing the engine the only thing you can go by to tell if it was a 409 car would be by telltale signs like the size of the fuel line, holes for the ballast resistor, or some other things that would be specific to a 409 car.


IMG_4542.JPG20200407_142143.jpgIMG_6087.JPG
 

1964SuperStocker

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 3
Yes the blocks and transmissions were stamped with the last half of the vin starting with the letter for the assembly plant. This is the same number that is on your title and the vin plate on the door jamb. Here are 3 photos of the engine block, door jamb or hinge pillar vin tag, and the Missouri title on a real 409 car I own. The Missouri title also shows 59 hp which is correct for the 409 engine. The hp of the engine and type of transmission was noted in the suffix of the engine assembly date, on my car its QC which is a 340 hp manual transmission. I hope this helps you understand how they were marked, if your car is missing the engine the only thing you can go by to tell if it was a 409 car would be by telltale signs like the size of the fuel line, holes for the ballast resistor, or some other things that would be specific to a 409 car.


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Looks like I have enough information to start a scam! :browLets see how many people I can get to call you about this car for sale. LOL!
 

Blk61409

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 9
Several years ago there was a guy I heard about that would provide build sheets properly yellowed and torn and deteriorated, dealership delivery paperwork, make ready paperwork, freight bill of lading, etc.

Pricy but he claimed he did a lot of work in the market place and no one ever discovered.

"Caveat Emptor", Buyer Beware!
 

Michael Cohen

 
Supporting Member 1
check the 3 speed trans code see if it is a 63 trans. 12 bolt? 409 radiator? return fuel line? engine date code? passenger side dip stick?
 

Don Jacks

Well Seasoned Member
Supporting Member 3
It's possible that the car could be original without positraction,although most people would have wanted it at that power level,it was still an option not standard equipment regardless of the engine/transmission combo .
 

El Rat

Well Known Member
There was a beautiful 61 impala (SS) that showed up at a local but well attended car show. I looked at it as well as I could without being rude. The impala won the overall trophy and whatever else was offered. I talked to the impala’s rep who mentioned the car was forsale...185,000
It’s rumored that the car is bogus built from ground up with all new parts. Fake paper, VIN and bill of sale. I was told that it cost 100k to create.
 

1964SuperStocker

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 3
There was a beautiful 61 impala (SS) that showed up at a local but well attended car show. I looked at it as well as I could without being rude. The impala won the overall trophy and whatever else was offered. I talked to the impala’s rep who mentioned the car was forsale...185,000
It’s rumored that the car is bogus built from ground up with all new parts. Fake paper, VIN and bill of sale. I was told that it cost 100k to create.
In this day and age people "create" cars all of the time. We get all kinds of people trying to pass something off that it isn't but we are in the business and rarely get taken because we have searched the same options, codes, castings, suffix codes so many times we have all of the most popular forgeries memorized.
 

El Rat

Well Known Member
The “clone” cars that I’ve seen were mostly done by amateurs or by qualified folks who had strict budgets. I think that if money was basically unlimited a clone could be created that would fool anyone. Correct glass and engine would be the most difficult to locate.
 
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