lib/PublicInbox/Import.pm     | 12 ++++++++----
 lib/PublicInbox/V2Writable.pm |  2 +-

diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/Import.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/Import.pm
index 68dc0c7e83c1b223796ee171200d879065e1add2..3853ff2b532b1cb3aea0dd47de500260de210fc3 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/Import.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/Import.pm
@@ -274,8 +274,8 @@ 	$ts = 0 if $ts < 0; # git uses unsigned times
 	"$ts $zone";
 }
 
-sub extract_cmt_info ($) {
-	my ($mime) = @_;
+sub extract_cmt_info ($;$) {
+	my ($mime, $v2w) = @_;
 
 	my $sender = '';
 	my $from = $mime->header('From');
@@ -325,6 +325,10 @@ 	$subject =~ tr/\0/ /;
 	utf8::encode($subject);
 	my $at = git_timestamp(my @at = msg_datestamp($hdr));
 	my $ct = git_timestamp(my @ct = msg_timestamp($hdr));
+	if ($v2w) { # set fallbacks in case message had no date
+		$v2w->{autime} = $at[0];
+		$v2w->{cotime} = $ct[0];
+	}
 	($name, $email, $at, $ct, $subject);
 }
 
@@ -370,9 +374,9 @@
 # returns undef on duplicate
 # returns the :MARK of the most recent commit
 sub add {
-	my ($self, $mime, $check_cb) = @_; # mime = Email::MIME
+	my ($self, $mime, $check_cb, $v2w) = @_; # mime = Email::MIME
 
-	my ($name, $email, $at, $ct, $subject) = extract_cmt_info($mime);
+	my ($name, $email, $at, $ct, $subject) = extract_cmt_info($mime, $v2w);
 	my $path_type = $self->{path_type};
 	my $path;
 	if ($path_type eq '2/38') {
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/V2Writable.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/V2Writable.pm
index f18428439c4d2ebbc272f70d0c2f17777644b923..d39a6f894539b4dce8de87c7360f7724a38b86d7 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/V2Writable.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/V2Writable.pm
@@ -176,7 +176,7 @@ 	my ($num, $mid0) = v2_num_for($self, $mime);
 	defined $num or return; # duplicate
 	defined $mid0 or die "BUG: $mid0 undefined\n";
 	my $im = $self->importer;
-	my $cmt = $im->add($mime);
+	my $cmt = $im->add($mime, undef, $self); # sets $self->{(au|co)time}
 	$cmt = $im->get_mark($cmt);
 	$self->{last_commit}->[$self->{epoch_max}] = $cmt;