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I'd lay money that you have a Satellite Sebring hard top (RH23) that has had a Roar Runner (RM21) hood, driver's door, and rallye cluster swapped in.
If the tile matches the dash, and the body VIN locations (the radiator core support, and the cowl), for the RH23 car, you're good.
If the dash...
Even if the dash VIN matches the title, that makes it a "gray area" car if the body stampings don't match the title/VIN.
Just trying to alert the OP of potential issues.
...some of which may only surface if he ever tries to sell the car...of haven forbid his heirs do.
OP didn't say what the dash VIN says.
Interesting that the door sticker says RM, even though the door looks like it belongs to the car, IE not repainted to match.
That suggests the car may be a RR but without a correct title.
More info needed from the OP.
To me, that cluster did look loose...
IIRC an "RH" car should have come with a "sweep" speedometer.
IMO someone has parted an RR onto this Satellite.
The OP's biggest issue is going to be obtaining a title for the car with the correct VIN, which will be compounded since the odometer has been swapped out (IE "tampered with")...
Build a 383 and a 400 without changing bore, stroke, or compression, but otherwise the same, and put each in a car of equal weight and gearing, set up the same and see who wins.
My bet is it comes down to the driver.
...and still another issue is the "mystique".
Kind of like the 327 chevy.
350 wins pretty much every contest if built the same....
...but 327 fans are die hard and very vocal...to the point of converting others and word of mouth history is born.
The 340 has a similar mystique and the 383's...
Another part of the confusion comes from the change to more MPG friendly axle ratios.
Certainly a 400 with a 2.76 (or worse) will feel a bit sluggish compered to a 383 with 3.23.
Part of the confusion comes from the change to NET HP.
For the 383 vs 400 argument- sure the compression is down, but the displacement is up...a fairly substantial 17 cubes.
What happens to all the "no replacement for displacement" arguments I hear?
Same applies to 360 vs 340.
IS compression...
V8 car is a +
manual trans car is also a +
...but OP's intent negates both of those.
I know early A body cars can have rust issues in the cowl. Not entirely sure if that carried over past 66.
Check there. Get as much of your arm up into the interior vent as you can and feel around.
I met Galen around 1993.
Nice enough guy back then, but even then if you didn't have a Hemi car, a six pack car, or a wing car, he really wasn't too interested in anything you had to say.
Agree about hamtramckhistorical.
They realize that part of being a custodian of history is giving back to the community.....and not entirely for profit.
I'd be interested as well.
AFAIK, nothing exists outside of NCIC (theft) for the pre-1981 VIN format.
I've had some surprising success simply "googling" VIN numbers before, though.