Pre HQ engine numbers were prefixed by the engine size. The date should be correct.

James

Just thinking back to previous posts, would this be the #2 253 engine?

Hmmm, might this particular engine be desirable? or am I in too much of a hurry to find out?

I'm having trouble believing that casting date.

Given that the HT series was announced in the media on 26th May 69 & went on sale on 30th May 69, an Aug 69 casting date for one of the first V8s seems too late.

I would have thought that, excluding prototypes, the first production V8s would have been cast & built in April at the latest.

Dr Terry

quote:

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Originally posted by Dr Terry
I'm having trouble believing that casting date.

Given that the HT series was announced in the media on 26th May 69 & went on sale on 30th May 69, an Aug 69 casting date for one of the first V8s seems too late.

I would have thought that, excluding prototypes, the first production V8s would have been cast & built in April at the latest.

Dr Terry

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This is why I asked in the PM sent for a photo of the engine number and the cast date. I think you'll find 4/69 isn't all that early in Holden V8 cast dates though!

Thats correct JBM. I think the Brougham had a 308 when released though.

quote:

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Originally posted by JBM
I thought the Aussie V8s weren't available when the HT was first released and the 253 was the available before the 308 because the 307s were being used up first.

James

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253 and 308 were available from the start of HT. 253 as a manual only, and 308 as a powerglide only, and only on Brougham. 253 was available on all HT except Brougham.

Col sent me the photos, and the thing looks legit, athough the engine has been decked the digits are still there (it is possible I suppose a trailing digit wasn't stamped as deep and it has gone). The only other possibility I can think of is that this was the second one stamped, but it is not the second one made. They possibly didn't start giving them engine numbers until closer to HT release and the development stuff was thrown into cars a bit later maybe? However the 25/8/69 cast date (which is what it is) is way too late for HT release. So I guess the missing trailing digit must be the answer?

I talked to Ben on it, he has 253H10026 with a H289 cast date, and another close by with the same cast date. Both were from White Hot specials, so this one possibly was too. It has 253 on the side so must be a 1969 cast (I did think for a second that the 9 might be a mangled 8, but it'd be blank on the side if this was the case).

I have a 253 with engine number QR681978. Any idea of what this is out of and the casting date. I don't know where to find the casting date on the block.

Getting back to HT 253 V8 motors for a moment, it is interesting to see how the White Hot Special achieved its aim.

The 253/308 was a slow seller to begin with, but Holden built & sold 5000 White Hots in the space of a few weeks & from the posts above we have learnt their engine number range.

253H5143 would've have been one of the first while 253H10026 was one of the last. They are 4883 units apart in numbering !!

Dr Terry