A friend recently purchased a nice original 1957 Cadillac, upon sorting out his new car I noticed the VIN/ID number normally stamped on the block forward of the R/H cylinder head was blank ie no stamping. My conclusion is this car received a factory replacement engine which was never stamped. Can anybody provide an explanation ?
I don’t know if this applies to the 57 engine, but sometimes the engine number is milled off when the block is machined by a rebuilder. If the engine number is at the same height as the head gasket it maybe what happened.
Thanks Glen,
I also considered this condition however it appears this engine is original and untouched.
Thanks for your insight.
See if you can find casting numbers and dates on the block and heads. This can help narrow down if it's a replacement or not.
Is it possible that for 1957 that the VIN number was stamped just above the oil pan, centred front to back, on the driver's side of the block like the later 390's?
According to my 1955 Master Parts List, when '49 to '55 replacement engines left the factory they did not have a VIN number stamped onto a boss on the block in front of the right cylinder head unless the buyer specified the VIN of the car the engine was intended for. Therefore, I would think some replacement engines were sold without a VIN.
However, replacement engines always had a "unit number" stamped on a machined flat spot right behind the distributor. The unit numbers were divided into several different series depending on whether the engine was for a car with air conditioning, power steering, was a commercial chassis and/or other features. One series of unit numbers was for replacement engines.
I don't know if this is true of '57 engines, but if there are unit numbers in '57, a Master Parts List covering that year may show them and this might answer your question.
For what it's worth, here is a photo of the engine SN on my '57 Coupe de Ville. The way the paint has chipped away around the numbers, it looks like the stamping might have been done after the engine was painted. Just guessing.
Looks pretty grubby down there, but I'm on it ;)