NOS Sheet Metal?

How long after the initial run of sheet metal did the factory keep stamping parts?

The 70 Charger NOS quarter in the for sale section has a date way past 1970.

I bought 2 NOS 1970 charger quarters about 1980 or so ( 2 of the same side)
Bought a pair of NOS fenders for a 1969 Road runner about the same time frame

I think back then they were required
By law to carry parts for 14 years from date of manufacture for a new car.

That did not work so well for me, I went to my Plymouth dealer in 78 to order some parts for my 69 GTX and while I was able to order most of what I wanted one part I was told was no longer available, the drivers side tail light bezel, it took me years to find one.

I believe it was 7 years

I believe it was 7 years or less.
There was always a lot of complaints back when parts for the 426 wasn't readily available, even when only a couple of years old.
I was in a Mopar dealer ship in 1980 during the Chrysler/economy flop, and they had NOS quarters and fenders they were returning to Ma Mopar for a credit.
They had Challenger quarters and 71 Cuda front fenders for $ 100.00 a piece.

I bought my 67 GTX in 1976 and the partsman told me the rule was 10 years. Around 1980 when I was buying parts for a 70 Challenger he told me the rule had been changed but I can't remember exactly, however 7 years sounds about right.

I vote for 7 years too.

going back 7 years is just old wives tales.
it depends on what manufacturer it is and what parts you need.
as 1971d21 stated 426 parts wern't available after a couple of years.
on my 08 bullitt mustang ford discontinued the special turned dash parts in early 2010 and they made 09 bullits.
i work at a VW dealer. we just ordered and got parts for a 90's jetta. then we tried ordering odd dash parts for a 2011 and they were not available.

in my opinion. if the parts sell reasonably well they are made for a LONG time. as soon as orders taper off they don't get made again, the newer the car the worse it gets. it doesn't matter what manufacturer it is.

Any supplier can exceed any required minimum mandates.

It helps if sales are good.

I was always told it was 10 years too, but everything is up to interpretation. I wrecked my 69 Dart GTS in 1978 and they just laughed at me. I did get inner fenderwells from the dealer that were later model. I know that the NOS fenders for Darts were not even close to original, recessed antenna hole, different inner fender mounting, different in the front near the hood adjuster, so not all NOS parts work good.

I purchased NOS right fender for my 70 Cuda in 1980, but it took several attempts as they kept sending a 72-4 fender to the dealer...luckily I had a friend in the parts dept...and he didn't give up on it.

I'm not sure how long they produced parts after a given run, but I was told at 10 years the parts and numbers were purged from inventory. I don't know what happens to them then.

In 93' or 94' I purchased an NOS AM radio faceplate for my 69' Super Bee from a dealer. I had the part number, they ran it and found supposedly the last one available. It was on the shelf at a dealer in Virginia (I'm in Massachusetts). I think it depends on what is/was kicking around in the dealership parts departments.

Back in the 80's & 90's I found if you had the part number, the parts department coud do a search for any given part. I haven't checked at a dealer in many years, figure any good stuff was bought long ago.

It also depends on the dealers listing what they have on the shelf. In 1999 I found a window limit switch for a 68 Coronet Wagon the exact same way

The 10 and 7 year rules applied to body repair panels not other parts.

I had a conversation with a Mopar block man in '74 and discussed this with him. Basically he said that Chrysler did a projection of how many vehicles of a certain kind they would sell for a given model year. Based on that projection, they would then produce replacement parts based on the number of vehicles projected to be sold and the historical consumption of that part. As examples he told me that more parts for the left side of a vehicle would be produced than the right side, fenders, headlight doors, taillight lens's, etc. He went on to say that a good example of this approach not working was when the Max Wedges were first produced. Chrysler produced a number of replacement cranks based on historical passenger car usage. When that stock was quickly used up due to racing service, Max Wedge cranks, according to him, were in short supply. That's what he told me, take it for what it's worth.

I used to work at a local Dodge dealership. And had a 1969 GTX hardtop at the time. As the day wound down. Occasionally would go into the parts dept and do a search on a long list of parts for my GTX.
One night after a rather tough day ( sometime early 2000s time frame )
I grabbed a coke and sat down at the parts mgr desk and ran my list.
Low and behold the left tail bezel pt number came back as in stock at a dealer in NJ I think it was.
I nearly fell out of the seat rolling around to grab the phone to call on it. A young guy answered and yep, he shows it. Just put in in the system that day. I asked him to pull it and describe it to me. Came back and sure sounded like it. So I gave him my credit card number and said send it.

Showed up a few days later. Sure enough there it was. All in sent to me for something like $60 delivered.

After I sold the car several years later. I sold the pair of bezels for a tidy sum.

7 years for sure, 10 likely correct in some instances.
When I got my 71 Cuda in 1976 I used to be at my dealer all the time checking on the availablity and ordering parts, stuff like wheellip mldgs, chrome headlight bezels, rocker trim, fender louvers, valances, just better stuff than what was on the car.
They got so tired of looking stuff up to order for me, that they gave me a ratty 70-71 parts book and told me to bring the numbers in I wanted.
In or around 1980 I went in with the correct part number and had my dealer order a 71 header panel after putting a ding in mine.
Parts guy told me it was NLS... No Longer Serviced( same as NS-1 in the US ).
They still priced out and I kept bugging him why, so , to brush me off he gave me the phone number of the Mississauga Depot, said to call and ask to talk to the 'parts specifier'and ask him, which I did.
Specifier said " Look there are about 75 of these in the corresponding bin but I cant sell you one, I'd give you one if I could but I cant even do that.
Once they are deemed a 'slow moving part' they are taken off the system, non-servicable item, and must be scrapped"
Moreless to say that, in 1978 or so, people weren't ordering a 71 Barracuda header panel every day, so they had to make room in that bin for more current parts.

Man you lucked out, wish I had paid only $60. makes me feel kind of sick.

MrT2U is right, its a tale.

AMC went out of business, ran out of money, but there is a law that says they have to keep making parts????

Its not true, belongs in the auto falsehood column.

you are wrong
there has to be a law in place for this reason...

there would be nothing stopping a company from
building a new car then not making parts for it.
so it is obsolete as soon as it needs a part and then you have to buy another to replace it.

this is a quote from a consumer protection lawyer on this very subject..
i was just wrong on the length,its 10 years

"the manufacturer is obligated to have parts for 10 years after they discontinue a model, and then after that if it was not a popular model they are not required. If you feel they should still have the part, based on the age and popularity of the vehicle, you can report the dealer to the state dealership licensing agency to see if they are violating state law or to the Fed. Dept of Trans. to see if they are violating the federal law in connection to this particular car and part."

flypaper, when Yugo went away do you think they continued to make parts?
If a company is out of business and money, how are they going to make parts?

When the creditors confiscate machinery in lew of money owed, how can a company make parts. This is just an impossible situation.

IF this was true, why only cars? Why not legislation for my old microwave, TV, computer ect.

I'm old, I heard this stuff 55 years ago. I didn't believe then either.

If you can show me actual law, well then.......but I wouldn't look for it, it is just not possible.

A lot of car makers went out in the fifties. Aftermarket manufactures kept parts flowing only as long as they made money. After that, it was done. Buyer beware.

just answer me this
what is out there to stop what i just mentioned from happening?????
i'm not scouring the internet
its just logical that this law exists.

if that law did not exist,
there would be no replacement parts ever made from a car manufacturer period.
they would have no motivation or reason to.
would they rather sell a lousy part or another new car?
they make parts because they have to by law...
you think they make parts from the kindness in their hearts? yikes

i'm sure when a manufacturer goes bankrupt then
the laws change for them in court.

Less emotion more facts required here. Many reasons service parts are made by OEM manufacturers. Mostly for $$$$ though. Service parts sell for 100-300% more than OE price.

This is my opinion:

The manufacturers must make the parts for the warranty period. If not, they would either, be in violation of the warranty contract, or would be wasting money buying aftermarket parts. To my knowledge, the longest part of the warranty would be the emissions portion.

I found this:

is there a federal law concerning oem parts availability on automobile lines that have been discontinued. If so what is the statute

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Law Educator, Esq.


Expert: Law Educator, Esq. replied 5 years ago.

I am afraid the current federal law only requires that parts be produced and made available for the full warranty period of the vehicle. Thus, once the warranty year expires on the last year the car was produced, the manufacturer is no longer bound to continue making parts for that vehicle. Thus, I am afraid there is no statute requiring them to keep making parts after the warranty would expire on their last product sold, even though most manufacturers continue for 2-3 years after the warranty period. See: Discontinued Cars.

This was the website:
https://www.justanswer.com/employment-la...-lines-bee.html

All of this makes me wonder: What about the lifetime warrantees on some vehicles? The late model Challenger comes to mind?

Was able to purchase a left and right NOS Challenger fenders in 1981
for my 70 Challenger.
Dealer stickers are still on the back.
Fenders were 624 and 625 (part number coded for a Trans Am car) but they have the 71 notch in front-hood pin area.
Dealer had them laying around and just wanted to get rid of them.

I agree with that warranty stuff.

But they don't stamp out fenders 3 years after that unit is no longer used. An estimated usage is made, and that is that.

Mechanical parts are made by numerous aftermarket companies, they are usually not a problem.

10 or 7 years was Fake news IMO. When the inventory ran out and the item was a slow mover or not worth making more then that was it, NS1. If they qualified, dealers could do a yearly return but not all parts were returned.

Yeah they stamped them years after the cars were new. I've had lots of NOS sheetmetal stenciled with dates up to 10 years after the car was built. So much for that theory.
Obviously if there was some rule the govt. or insurance companies wanted imposed it wouldn't apply to a manufacturer when it went bankrupt.

I guess you guys must be right then.

I wonder if a company is going to loose money if they still have to make them. How much money (percentage or level of income) are they required to loose?

What if it will bankrupt them? Still got to make them?

How is the company told to make parts, when one car can't be fixed? Or is it a number of cars, or percentage of the number made?

That law must be quite extensive to cover all these options. A highly word crafted law, eh?

I doubt is in effect now. I would really guess there is a money trail and the insurance companies were behind it so they didn't have to total off cars that were lightly damaged when near new.

Sarcasm, I deal in sarcasm. Look at what I really said above. Its not possible.

If it were possible, why just cars? How about high end commercial tools, lathes, mills, refrigerators ect.

Its not possible to word or cover a law like this. Its a myth with no sustainable proof.

http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2015/07/orphan-cars-10-year-parts-myth/

I worked for a Dodge dealer in the mid to late 80's. We had NOS front fenders and rear 1/4's for two door '77-78 Aspens still in stock. After a couple years working there, the manager sent them all back to the Parts Depot during a cycle return.
Around 1985, I went to a local C/P dealer looking for an NOS front valance panel, for my 1969 300 vert. They found a dealer in New York City, that had the very last valance panel left in the country(thru the dealer network)! Think I paid around $45 or so with shipping!

From what I recall from my time working in dealer parts departments in the seventies, it was five years on body repair parts. Most of the OE replacement sheet metal parts I sold, or purchased for my own use, had stamping flaws of some kind. I was told most of the new replacement sheet metal inventory available at that time were in fact original assembly line rejects.