[Cliff R]

"Maybe someone can explain why an original stamped carburetor or distributor sells for good money but restamps are a dime a dozen?"

Only poorly uneducated buyers are paying the big bucks for "fake" RAIII and RAIV carburetors. I've had scores of them sent here, a few are still out in the shop as the owner went another direction and didn't even pay shipping to have their expensive "restamp" sent back to them.

Also realize that there are a LOT of Service Replacement Ram AIr carbs in circulation, part numbers 7028276, 7029270 and 7040270. They bring good money but far LESS than an original dated unit with the correct Plant Code and Julian Date on it. Although politically correct for a Ram Air car auto or manual that's missing the original this still might take away from the value some, depending on what the new owner is wanting and expecting from the car.

I'd also add here that most of if not all the Ram Air carburetors on Chuck's RAIV cars will be the real deal, because I did them here. Over the course of 20 years or so Chuck hired me to restore Pontiac RAIV carburetors. For most of those years we never discussed who's cars they were for or where they were going to end up, just the engine details so I knew that they werent' headed for some ill-fated build where the owner dished the pistons and put a Comp XE-274 cam in it or some "whiz-bang" fast ramp short seating timing crap to supposedly bring back all the lost power (common practice) instead of the original high compression set-up and real RAIV camshaft.

I actually had no idea that he had a "collection" until a couple of years ago, and sort of put two and two together and figured that the carbs I'd been restoring for him had ended up on some of them.

Chuck NEVER sent a non-Ram Air carb here or asked me to restore a "restamp" or even worse restamp one for him. He knows enough about them to know the real deal from a fake and every single one sent here was for sure the real deal.......FWIW.......