Tell me more about this 455 HO block I picked up
 

1972 485428 455 HO block, YB code, J041 date code. The block appears to have a relatively fresh .030" bore and 4 bolt main caps. How rare is this block and what is it worth?

More pictures

I would not take less than $1500 if it were mine. It all depends on how badly a person needs it. If you can find the car that matches the VIN #.......$2500 to $3500. Being for an auto trans cuts the value.

The block itself is not that rare.

I have had 3 of them and seen a total of like 8.
With that year 455 block with that casting number they are all drilled and tapped for four bolt caps but only the 4 bbl motors got the 4 bolt caps.

YB used a Unitized Distributor. This is for a Formula or TA.

I paid $500 for the one I just built.FWIW,Tom

The main difference with any Pontiac engine with 4 bolt caps is the cap material itself.

As this chart shows on the right side all the caps used on block fitted with these main caps where of the better Nodular iron material, not the plain gray cast iron of the 2 bolt main caps.

I sold one for $1500 10 years ago, but lowered the price to $900 when i noticed that a rod had hit the bottom of a cylinder and chipped it. Strike year at GM not many of those around anymore.

I have seen that same block with the 485 prefix used in some very late production 1971 motors .
So it was not just strictly used in 72 production.

Interesting turn of events with this old block... So, the woman who sold me the block said it belonged to her late husband, and that they just sold their '72 Lucerne blue T/A on BAT. I found the situation interesting so I looked up the BAT sale.

After looking at the beautiful car, I noticed that the numbers on the block and the VIN on the auction car match. Is it safe to assume that I've found the actual car that this block belongs to? I have informed the seller and the guy who handled the BAT auction to see if they are willing to reach out to the new owner and give them my contact info...

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/19...rd-trans-am-9/

All I can say is WOW.

Very cool that you were able to likely find it's original home.

Unreal. I think the value of your block just went up. Lol

Ditto

https://forums.maxperformanceinc.com...5&d=1760886961

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/19...rd-trans-am-9/

Scroll down in the question section to oct 8, Rocky Rotella mentions the previous owner and the original block

Yes, I saw that. This is pretty crazy if you read all the auction comments. . I sent the link for this thread to Rocky (my old friend) as well, as he was involved in commenting on the auction.

Nice!

Nice job! Some of you may recall that I reunited a 69 RAIV block, heads, and intake that I had with the original Warwick blue, 4.33 gear, auto trans 69 Judge, five states away.

Very cool!

please let us know if the new owner of that car buys the block!

I had guesstimated that the block in the car was about 15,000 units too low.
It is actually about 10,000 units too low.

151876 vs 161266

Some known examples :
VIN – N514784 – EUN 0151345 – Body 11B
VIN – N515007 – EUN 0151974 – Body 11B
VIN – N520245 – EUN 0166926 – Body 12B

This car would be:
VIN - N521873 - EUN - 0161226 - Body 12B

Yes , it is a 100% safe bet .
I just posted to the auction that the original block was recovered.
If no response from the buyer in a couple of days , I will tag his screen name.
Or someone else can go ahead and post a tag to him now on there.

SO, I contacted the guy David who handled this auction (got his contact info from the widow) and we made a deal for the block this morning after he responded immediately. When I talked to him he admitted to me that he saw the block in her garage, but she said it was a 1974, and as a result HE DIDNT CHECK THE NUMBERS as the car is a '72. How is this even possible on a car of this level?

He said we could make a deal on the block and that he would return the block to the buyer of the car and promised not to "mark it up" when passing off to the new owner although I mentioned nothing of the sort. Later this afternoon, David noticed a posting from Baron Von Zeppelin on BAT, stating that I had the block, and this guy completely loses it! He accuses me of ripping the spouse off, that I knew the block was there beforehand, yelling at me on the phone drunk, hanging up... Delusional.

This block was listed on FB marketplace by the widow and I found/bought it. Give me a break.

Anyways, this guy David (smartguy1014 on BAT) has gone completely off the reservation and I will NOT be dealing with him any further as it is not in the best interest of the new owner or myself. If the new owner of the TA, or anyone who knows him wants to get him in touch with me, I'd be happy to see that the block gets to him. I tried to respond on BAT but I'm new to the site and the post didnt go through. If I cannot get in touch with the new owner, I'll throw it in the shed like I had planned to for a rainy day. It's a darn nice block!

As I see it, you hold all the cards......good luck!!!!

I had Mr.smartguy pegged from the start.
He's not up to par , or even remotely close to it.
Exactly the opposite of a smart guy.

I did that post to further shame him.
Nice to know it worked.

Congratulations 68lemans462 , you scored a very excellent block.
No guilt to be had on your part at all , whatever you want to do with it.

My 2 cents , it would have improved the auction result 10-15k at minimum IF it was in the car and running.
5 - 8k if it was included with the car as-is. Riding the wave.
Right now ,,,, worth more to the new owner than anyone else.
He might not even care , or not care enough.

Minimum $2500 on the open market in that condition. imo

Wow. What a sad mess. This guy David seems like a real idiot. The buyer is certainly innocent. You'd assume they'd want the block, but who knows. It depends on what they want to do with the car. They may go full pro-touring on it and not care at all about the block. The seller definitely got screwed.

How is a block automatic trans specific? Isn’t the crankshaft pilot bearing the only difference? I thought pre-1973 blocks had auto/manual interchangeable bell housing bolt patterns and cast-in bosses for the z-bar linkage.

I think they mean that someone wanting a correct coded block for their car would want it. (not numbers matching but correct engine code)

The YB is specifically for Unitized distributor, so would be more important to someone that originally had a Unitized dist. car?
(luckily for us PHS would show that)

If just wanting a 455 HO block wouldn't matter what code it is. (automatic or stick)

:confused:

It's specific once the pick code is stamp onto it. It could still be used as a 4 speed block, but was originally built for an automatic.

I saw this and it’s a great scenario!

A few questions…

So, how did the seller get in touch with you?

The BAT guy seems like he wants to help? But, why not just give you the new owners contact?

Why hasn’t the new owner contact you thru PY?

Seems to me the scenario would be an easy transaction and better for all.

But, it’s creepy that the seller isn’t altruistic.

BAT isn’t either.

PY is still very useful in getting people together.

The previous owner of the car gave me the used car salesman, David's information. I believe this guy wanted to get the block from me, mark it up, and offer it to the buyer of the car. The BAT posting messed all of that up in his eyes, as it could potentially remove him from the deal, and expose his ignorance and negligence. . David is not only altruistic, he's a typical used car salesman type. A snake in the grass who only cares about himself. IF he cared about the sale of the car he would have listened to the people telling him that the block was there in the garage and to check the numbers on the block and include with the sale. He said the block was on the floor and he didnt want to flip it over to check the numbers. This guy is a complete rookie.

I dont see this being an easy transaction if the new buyer doesnt know about the block or how to contact me. You'd think the guy would want the block (I know I would if I just dropped over $80k on that car) -- but that's just me. We will see if anyone reaches out...

congrats on the purchase...my buddy has a 72 with non-matching block for a unitized 4spd car...scarce as all hell lol

My little questions are when did it hit FBook , and when was it bought ?
I am presuming that all took place after the auction ended.
And was bought very quickly after it was listed on FBook.

68lemans462 did what any of us would do if one of these popped up local on FBook.

Anybody who didn't see right through this guy David from the start shouldn't drive at night.

I doubt the widow would want to get back in the mix by demanding the buyers info from David.
She was fairly complicit in the block not going with the car.
Could have made an effort herself to give buyer a first right versus FBook.
But it would have taken another pound of effort from her and David both.
Don't see any of that happening in either direction at this point.

I did tag the buyer on BaT .
I can even link this thread onto BaT , but will let 68lemans462 decide if he wants me to do that, or not.

There is also a possibility that I could get BaT to email the buyer to contact me.
Some guys don't check on every post alert. Some have alerts turned off.

I bought the block on Saturday morning 10/18. It had been listed for less than 24 hours on FB Marketplace. Seller said she had others interested, and I made her an offer over her asking price in cash and she said come now...

I was able to make a comment on BAT, after it was reviewed.. Thankfully they posted it. Baron, I'm supportive of anything you feel would be effective in getting the new owner's attention. I'm happy to PM you with my contact info. Thx

If the new owner has caught wind of the situation , his head is probably still spinning.
He may have taken smartguy at face value initially.
Another day or two I could reach out to BaT on your behalf if buyer hasn't responded.

It's a lot to process in retrospect from an unseasoned buyer.

Some schiesty guys would have already had a plan to restamp the VIN on the currently installed block.

I can't imagine anyone would be pleased finding out the degree of bullsquat from the sellers false promises to help make another sweep for the block.
And it was right there all along.

Answering the original question -- block should be worth at least $2500 to $3500 I feel --- and for the car missing it even more considering a numbers matching block to that T/A likely increases value $5k to $10k at least many would say.

Kinda sad and hard to believe the original owner didn't fill the wife in on the particulars of such a valuable car (with original engine) before he passed. Maybe he passed suddenly, not sure. At the end of the day it cost his wife money.

I'm chump change, but my wife knows what i have and what to sell it for if go before her.

My biggest fear is, when I die, my wife will sell my stuff for what I told her I paid for it... 🤣

Every car guys nightmare

It's easy to get all excited about something like this, but does it really matter very much? If this is the car that I think it is it sold for 67k. If it had the numbers matching motor how much more would it be worth? Hard to say. 10%, 20%, 30%? 10% would be $6700. 30% would be $20k. Let's just make it double that and say $40k. That's a bit of money but it's not life changing kind of money for most people. Apparently, to the survivor it didn't matter enough to pursue. I think it will all work out.

"Apparently, to the survivor it didn't matter enough to pursue"

If she even knew what to pursue. It seems she was unaware the block was original to the car she was selling or she had no clue it would up the value of the car by potentially 30% if the block went with the car. That would explain why the guy selling the car for her knew nothing about the original block. By the time all was known, the deal was done. No way to pursue that 15-30k that was lost. At that point it was too late.

I just hope the block ends up back in the car one day. They were together for 55 yrs. Waaaah, now i'm sad. Lol

I'm going to add on to the last post;
"survivor" is a term that few people really know or understand.

(it is my understanding that) Typically a survivor car is one which has 'survived' to date without modification - which includes engine swaps

No body repaints;
No engine refeshing or repainting;
original/unmodified interior...

If that car has it's engine reunited with the car, it would be more likely to be classified as a numbers matching car.

Here's something of a hierarchy of classic/muscle cars:

1) Survivor
2) Numbers matching
3) Numbers & date correct
4) Numbers correct

I am not forgetting your personal flirtation(?) with numbers matching;
It is my opinion that if possible, reuniting a top tier car with it's original engine/transmission is always a good move.

It's my personal understanding that (as numbered above) #1 & #2 cars have a complete different buying audience than #3 or lesser cars.

While i agree with everything you said, i think jhein meant the surviving wife of the cars owner.

Correct.

whoops.

sorry :o

It's just really hard to believe that they never thought or cared enough to check that block. As I recall, the guy helping her asked about it and she said she didn't think it was the original block. The fact that they never bothered to take a minute to verify that seems ridiculous. That makes me think that neither one of them really cared and the widow just wanted to get rid of the car. Or maybe the guy helping her did check and he knew it was the original block and his plan was to buy it from the widow and then sell it to the new owner and make a few more bucks.

there was for sure something off with the seller...
He suggested full disclosure, and said he was a part of a car club, but couldn't answer (?ignored) simple questions, and kept citing casting numbers as stamped numbers...

What ever.

I hope the new owner shows up here :)

Good news! I have connected with the new owner of the car and have made arrangements to ship the block to him. Thanks to all for your help.

I just love a happy ending. :)

And seeing this block go back to the car it belongs in is okay too. ;)

Did the guy offer you the 455HO block in there? Can you let me know what you paid the widow for it off Facebook?

However that came about , is a miracle.
There is no visible post from you on the auction listing - maybe BaT removed it if it had contact info.

Did BaT connect you and the new owner ?
Or did the new owner find his way here and contact you ?

You definitely deserve a medal of honor . :beerchug: