Hold your calls, we have a winner!
Paul wouldn't let me chime in any earlier.
Yes indeed, it arrived yesterday from Jasper and is now in the garage at the house. I hope to get the engine compartment prepped soon, and get on with the install. Long story short, but the original engine I sent up turned out to be a 350 CID that a previous owner had put in lieu of the original 455. Jasper located me a 455 core, and we moved forward.
The "new" 455 is from a 1975 year however...best we could do under the circumstances. Now I am trying to get smart on the intricacies of locating a matching intake manifold and carb since I don't have one for this engine.
The 455 is simply amazing, as a "newbie" in this I hope I can do the engine compartment nice to do it justice.
It never ends...but then it is a "hobby".