This is the first part of my correspondence with Corvette historian Bill Gould from Auto Ancestry. I asked Bill to research the history of the Red Rocket, and the result was well worth the effort. Bill is very well known in the Corvette community in the USA, he's an NCRS member and owner of a Top Flight blue/blue 365hp 1966 coupe. Bill has helped to uncover and authenticate the history of many rare, high-value Corvettes (like this 1963 Z06/N03 big tank, and this 1963 Z06).
"Your tags look very good. To be 100% sure of the trim tag one would have to microscopically examine for the proper tool marks as delineated in the NCRS trim tag book but I see no issues with your tags. Your tag has the exception code A which I do not know what that means. The exception code AA means “unrestricted” as far as options. Perhaps they inadvertently left off the second A or there is another definition I do not know.
I have very few 65 Dow Smith tags in my database near yours. I have #9827 with body A1618 and date G3=Feb 3. Yours is 10157 with a body number A1770 and date G10=Feb 10. Your VIN tag has the rosette rivets which started about at VIN 10000."
Bill Gould, AutoAncestry
