What can you tell me about these numbers?

[Michellethesecretary]

I am a County Secretary in Oklahoma and the shop mechanic likes to try and throw me for a loop. He brings me things to identify, parts to find, etc. and thus far I've been successful. Today, however, I've found I need help. He's brought me the following numbers from a Chevy small block engine. What can you tell me about it? I'm not sure which number is correct. There is only one engine, but the fourth number is hard to decipher so I'm posting all three options. He'd like to know know what year it is and what it came out of and anything else you might know.

The numbers are:
3979011
3973011
3978011

Thank you very much for any help you can give me!

Michelle

 

[hurst01]

Michelle,

Perhaps you could have the mechanic double-check the numbers. I can't find the ones you have listed or any variant of them.