Serial number on'58 IH 350 Utility is 3044?

While I'm at it: My 350U was supposed to be a 1958 but the plate on the side has 3044 stamped into it. Otherwise it looks like a 1958 but does 3044 means it's a 1957? I guess it doesn't matter except that I missed it's 60th birthday last year!

Built January 1957.

Count yourself lucky that the seller was only a year off. I'll see things for sale like a 1964 Farmall M, or a 1939 Farmall 806.

I bought an H a year ago that was listed as a 1940. When I went to look at it, it didn't look correct for a 1940 and I figured the guy was wrong but he swore it was a 1940. I end up buying it and when I got home, I looked up the serial number is it is was a 1952.

Even worse than that, the guy told me on the phone that it ran good but needed the carb rebuilt. I get there and look it over and it is in decent shape with a kelley loader in fair shape. I turn the gas on to try and start it and it just pours gas out of the carb and he says "see the carb needs rebuilt". I had decided I was going to buy it and was fairly certain I could get it running after cranking it over some with the gas off, so I told him I would take it, and I was going to work on it some so I could drive it onto the trailer instead of trying to use a come-along.
I open the carb up and the venturi and the needle valve are gone. I ask him if he had the carb apart previously and he said his brother who was a "tractor man" had rebuilt it for him last winter. I asked him if he had any of the parts that were "left over" after he rebuilt it. He pointed to the barn and said they could be in there somewhere. I dug around for a couple hours and found a needle and seat, plus the venturi. I put the carb together and it was leaking a little but at least not pouring now. I tried to start it and it wasn't getting fire. I checked and the coil wasn't getting power, so I bypassed the bad ignition switch and got the tractor to start but it was missing a little, so I filed and set the points. It was still missing on the number 4 cylinder but running fair otherwise.
As I was getting tools put away, someone else shows up and he prices the tractor to them for $500 more than the price we had already agreed on. He starts it and shows the guy "how good it runs". I tell them it is still missing on the #4 cylinder and I suspect a stuck valve. He asked how long it would take me to fix. I tell him I am done working on the tractor for him and we had already agreed on a price and had told him I would take it for that price.
At this point the other guy who had showed up to look at it could tell that I was getting a little angry and he leaves. I was not happy with how the guy tried to do me, but I bought the tractor anyway and left.

When I got home it did have a stuck exhaust valve on the number 4 cylinder.