427 Chris Craft motor serial number identification

Something for the archives. Here is a note from 2004, regarding how the CC hull identification numbers work, engine castings, etc. I thought it would be a good reference here.

If anyone has addl info to add, please do so!

Regards, Paul




The MEL and FE engines were used by Chris Craft simultaneously for a
limited period of time as existing stocks were depleted, but few
MEL's were installed in Commanders, and this combination would
represent a very rare finding these days. My 1966 Commander has the
427 engines but I know of a beautiful 38' Sea Skiff Corinthian of the
same year that has 431 MEL engines. I also know of several wood
cruisers and skiffs of this vintage that have one or the other of
these engines, including some Chrysler variants, without a readily
apparent reason. Some of these installations were actually out of
necessity rather than engineering preference, and some may show
evidence of a quick adaptation to hull stringers that were originally
intended for a different engine.

Chris Craft always fitted the premium boats like the Constellations
and Commanders with the best available equipment, and the Skiffs and
Cavaliers got what was left. Labor strikes in 1966 forced Chris
Craft to use what they could find, and this is one of the reasons for
the apparent "scramble" of engines being offered during that year. A
supplemental listing of 1966 engines shows Chrysler 318's and 426-B's
also being offered "across the board" at Chris Craft.

The 426-B, incidentally, is an enlargement of the Chrysler 383 wedge
head design and not the "hemi" version of the same displacement. As
the availability of the big block Ford "FE" stabilized, it became the
standard engine for premium Chris Crafts. Some 427's also found
their way into lower cost models such as Sea Skiffs after 1966, and
these boats were all big performers. (my 35' 327-F powered Sea Skiff
would outperform my 38' Commander, due to it's light weight
construction; what a beautiful handling boat that was! Good engines
too.)

My 427 engine block casting number is C5AE-A; which in Ford culture
yeilds the follwing information; C = the 1960's (the decade, D is the 1970s, C is the 1960s, B for the 1950s), 5 = the year of the decade (C5 would be 1965), A = the car line the motor was intended for, in this case the A stands for FORD, E = stands for "engine", and the
suffix A = indicates a part as originally designed, a "B" would indicate a second generation of that same design. Therefore I have a 1965 427 motor that generally is "as originally designed".

My Commander number is FXA 38 3004 R.
What this means is my number 4 boat built in 1966 is
one of the earliest boats fitted with a 427 engine, and the engine
has 1965 casting origins which means they are most likely the
original motors. Ford casting numbers indicate the date of
incorporation of a particular casting, not the date at which it was
cast, so it is quite likely to find a 1964 vintage cast piece still
being used on a 1967 engine, etc., so beware of how you read those
casting numbers. If anyone has an older 38 Commander with 427
engines I'd like to know the serial numbers.

The info above about Ford casting numbers is VERY elementary, since there are lots of variations. For instance, a motor casting number could be for ONLY the basic casting, and that casting could be machined several different ways. Therefore, when looking at casting numbers, beware, there is generally a lot more to the story, especially when trying to figure out whether you have a 428 or 390 engine block, both have the same casting number, but one was actually "cast" to a different bore.

regards,

Paul
1966 38' Commander
Original 427 power