Date code on stock exhaust manifold

Do not take that the wrong way. It is fact and not meant to discourage. Sometimes the line used older stuff depending on deliveries and more. Date coding anything to a month is just wrong. As said unless as delivered and know as such, replacing a piece you have no way to absolutely be certain of. Obviously there are no million dollar A’s. Care to post up some good pics? Don't loose your faith!
lol, I'm never discouraged, delusional or exhibiting lack of faith. I didn't buy this car to flip it or because of it's monetary value. I bought it for sentimental reasons, as I owned one in late December 1968 brand new as a teenager. This one is probably 99% original and I pose questions here and elsewhere as I would researching anything to bring it back as new. I'm not concerned with those who hold knowledge m
It is an age old story, people often want absolute facts when there are none to offer.

One of my 1970 cars was 'scheduled' 417.
original engine in it was completed as an assembly on 422.

It had a door sticker showing it was completed in April, so I knew it was finished before May.

The oldest date codes I found on it were three pieces of side glass - June of 1969.

We can record facts for any original car as found, but guesses lead to lies & misinformation as a result.
LOL, first of all you are taking a simple question and twisting it into a lecture by partly defining my statement about build dates. I don't get discouraged over silly things like inanimate objects or their monetary value. It's a quest to put a car back together that is 99% original. The question was a simple query about the speculative date that might be on a part based on other facts. Pretty simple I thought and expected some form of answer based on other original cars and their parts. Such as, my cars build date is 2/26/69, the engine date is 12/10/68, knowing that it's a numbers matching car I now know (according to others) that typically motors are built approx. 2 months ahead of the body leading me to think that the exhaust manifold would be a few months prior to that ie ; 10/10/68. The body stamp on the trunk rail is 1/30/69. That's all.