<VV> What NOS means, and oldy but goody

Ron ronh at owt.com
Wed Jun 22 19:29:02 EDT 2011


But, at swap meets it means "New Old Stock" meaning items made around the 
time of the vehicle and stored ever since.
RonH

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Dennis Pleau" <dpleau at wavecable.com>
To: <virtualvairs at corvair.org>
Sent: Wednesday, June 22, 2011 4:07 PM
Subject: <VV> What NOS means, and oldy but goody


> Here is an article by Bording Ostergaard, back in the dark ages of the 
> VVs.
>
>
>
>
> NOS Means "Not Originally Supplied".
>
>
>
> For example, when you see someone advertising a vehicle with an NOS engine
>
> or interior or with "lots of NOS parts", it likely means this car was
>
> originally shipped from the factory with this equipment missing. Sometimes
>
> this caused only a minor nuisance for the customer as the missing parts 
> were
>
> easily installed and at minor cost such as headlights. On larger items 
> like
>
> engines, wheels, seats, etc., the dealer would often have to pay for and
>
> install these parts themselves in order to make the car saleable. Often
>
> these vehicles would instead simply be offered at a discount and sold "as
>
> is". It is therefore not unheard of to find that some people after
>
> purchasing a new Corvair would find out when they got it delivered to 
> their
>
> home that it had so much NOS equipment that it was actually cheaper just 
> to
>
> go and buy another complete car. Of course because the cars were sold "as
>
> is" many of these vehicles ended up sitting in peoples garages completely
>
> unused. Today, if you are fortunate enough to still find one they 
> typically
>
> have very few miles on them. A word of caution though, when buying an NOS
>
> vehicle make a careful inventory of what it needs as few NOS equipped
>
> vehicles are the same. Some can be very expensive to complete.
>
>
>
> Of course when adding the missing parts you will also want to be sure to 
> use
>
> true "NOS" parts otherwise you car will not be a 'numbers' car. This will
>
> significantly reduce its collector status and hence it's resale value.
>
> Fortunately there is still quite a good inventory of NOS parts to be had.
>
> This came about because when GM finished building the Corvair they
>
> discovered that they had a lot of leftover parts. Yes, you guessed it, all
>
> the parts that were not included on the vehicles that had been shipped NOS
>
> were now sitting in the factories without any cars left on which to 
> install
>
> them on. Then, because the dealers had sold off most all of the NOS cars 
> 'as
>
> is', there was no obligation on the part of GM to get these missing parts
>
> out to the cars that needed them. Instead these parts simple went into
>
> excess inventory and then eventually ended up in private hands, where 
> today,
>
> they are offered for sale as NOS.
>
>
>
> Over the years the use of the NOS has become somewhat blurred so you first
>
> need to verify if NOS means the part is missing or if the part is 
> included.
>
> One person could say they had a car with an NOS engine which likely means
>
> the engine was missing from the factory and probably still is, while 
> someone
>
> else can be advertising an NOS engine which means they probably have the
>
> engine the other guy is missing. Occasionally these people do meet up but
>
> not often.
>
>
>
> It can be very confusing at times and if you are buying NOS parts by mail 
> it
>
> is very important to determine in advance if you are buying something that
>
> is in fact missing (such as and engine with NOS pistons), or if you are
>
> instead acquiring an actual originally missing part. You need to be 
> careful
>
> as it can get very expensive trying to figure this all out after the fact
>
> and I can speak from knowledgeable experience. I have honestly heard of
>
> people sending away money in good faith and then just receiving back an
>
> empty box. When they contacted the seller to find out what happened they
>
> were told that this was how the seller themselves bought the part, NOS, or
>
> 'as is', which of course meant that it was originally 'missing'. While the
>
> seller is not being dishonest and while this does qualify as a true NOS 
> part
>
> under the original and technically-correct definition of the term, it 
> hardly
>
> does you any good if you were actually expecting something for your money.
>
> Needless to say it is important to clearly understand and define just what
>
> NOS means in advance of sending any cash.
>
>
>
> In closing, I hope this helps you out but more importantly, saves you the
>
> cost of 'buying' your Corvair restoration education. Just remember that 
> NOS
>
> can mean two completely different things so the first and last thing to do
>
> is ask! ask! ask!.
>
>
>
> As an additional note, it is often safer to buy from known vendors as they
>
> are more easily located if you have problems, and often because they are 
> in
>
> a commercial business tend to use nicer boxes. This way when they sell you 
> a
>
> 'true' NOS part you at least have a nice box. I know that Larry's Corvair
>
> Parts advertises a lot of NOS stuff so you might try there first. Larry is 
> a
>
> very pleasant guy to talk with and I can vouch for the fine quality of his
>
> boxes.
>
>
>
> There is also one final comment that should be made, and that fact is that
>
> NOS parts as mentioned immediately above do tend to come with a much lower
>
> cost of shipping. This can be enhanced by also specifying at the time you
>
> order to use the smallest box available. It will save you real $$$.
>
>
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