How to find OEM parts for your car

[Big_John]

One thing that needs to be said is to buy your NOS parts from a reputable dealer whenever possible.

If you've been fooling around with cars for any length of time, you've opened at least one box from the parts store with a used part in it. That's going to happen with some so called "NOS" Mopar parts. Let's face it, a lot can happen in 50 years of sitting around. Returned parts that were tried and didn't solve the problem or the old bad part gets put in the new box and returned.

Then there's terminology. Lot's of parts are claimed to be "NOS" when they are really "NORS" (New Old Replacement Stock), and I've seen used parts that people claim to be "NOS" from the start. The NORS part may be what you need, but don't pay NOS price for.

So, before you buy that NOS part that you saw on eBay from the seller that specializes in dollhouse furniture, remember that it's going to be a crap shoot if it's worth the $2 you just saved.

 

[marty mopar]

On buying trips that took maybe 2-3 months of wandering all over hitting Mopar dealerships
(driving blind w/o calling them before showing up). Go to the dealership and when done pull out the road atlas
and ask where the next dealer was and if anyone had any obsolete parts. Sure worked great.
This was in the 1980's and into the mid 1990's

I had a 1967 Dodge A-100 van. Slant 6, 3 speed manual column shift that I drove. We camped out most of the
time. Rarely got a motel room. Slept in a house across the road from a dealership once and packed up parts that were
in the house until midnight using a Coleman as there no power in the house.. Slept behind old buildings in some small town.
Once in New Mexico we were camped out and had just gone to sleep and we heard rifle fire. I jumped up and yelled to the
rabbit hunters and they left. Another time in a cornfield (back east there are not lots of places to camp). State parks,
wilderness areas, etc. were all perfect for camping.

As the engine was between the bucket seats you could cook food on the manifold with easy access. We got some fresh corn at a roadside stand
and did just that... put it on the manifold with the husk still on. Damn good too!


Great road food in small towns and you get to see the country.

Got to Eugene Oregon and realized the Grateful Dead were playing that evening. Parked by the campus and got 2
tickets at face value from the couple parked next to us. After the show up into the mountains to camp. Blackberries ripe
all over and we ate a ton and then swam in the stream nearby naked. A good substitute for a shower. The ex GF is in town
this week and she had her old photo album...and there was the pic of the 2 of us in black and white naked in the stream!


When buying you learned to:

Open boxes that had already been opened to see if the defective part had been put back in.
Check to see if the NOS parts was damaged.
Check to see if all of the items were there. Example....tape stripes where the body shop robbed the
fender tape and left the door and quarter panel tapes in the box.

And most importantly:
1. leave all the crap there and only buy what you could sell
2. box all of it up yourself and then have them ship it to you later. This eliminated
a shitty packing job that ruined your haul and I didn't have to take it with me.
3. Tell them that you are only going to give them 10% or less if they knew what they had in it.
Most of the time the stuff had been written off so they did not know what the original cost to them was.
I say my average was about 5 cents on the dollar was what I paid.

4. NEVER offer them any $ first. Get the manager to give you a price first. That way you can negotiate down.

Once I had a huge pile on the floor and figured I'd pay $2000.00-3,000.00. I asked the guy what he wanted.
He said $300.00. I remained calm and my GF who was always on the trips with me didn't blink. I paid him and
the 3 of us were happy.

 

[Justin Plant]

Hello, I'm brand new to the world of vintage Mopar. I learned quick, get a parts book, and a factory service manual. I now have both. However, I cannot find a factory front rubber floor mat. My car has two perfect rear mats. Two aftermarket fronts. I would love to find one, but no luck. I have the brochure of "accents" that came in the glove box. It shows a one piece mat. This is the only picture i can find one one though. If you can help Marty that would be awesome. If you have one, and I can afford it, its sold. I just want a black full width front mat. Cheers gentlemen!

 

[marty mopar]

as for floor mats and other accessories you need an ACCESSORY BOOK

Here it is for 1975 and good luck finding any of the accessories for ANY year as dealerships never stocked them, just ordered as needed
for customers. And after 2-3 years they were not available..........

I have accessory books or brochures for sale from 1974-2005

 

[Justin Plant]

Thank you very much! How much for the book? Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

 

[bigmoparjeff]

Hello, I'm brand new to the world of vintage Mopar. I learned quick, get a parts book, and a factory service manual. I now have both. However, I cannot find a factory front rubber floor mat. My car has two perfect rear mats. Two aftermarket fronts. I would love to find one, but no luck. I have the brochure of "accents" that came in the glove box. It shows a one piece mat. This is the only picture i can find one one though. If you can help Marty that would be awesome. If you have one, and I can afford it, its sold. I just want a black full width front mat. Cheers gentlemen!

What color mat are you looking for?

Jeff

 

[Justin Plant]

Black please.

 

[bigmoparjeff]

Black please.

I'll send you a PM.

 

[Justin Plant]

great thanks

 

[marty mopar]

15.00 plus shipping for 1975 Mopar accessory book

 

[Ross Wooldridge]

Hey Marty - would you be able to tell me what the part numbers are for floor mats front and rear for a 1966 Dodge Monaco 500?

 

[SIPLOWGUY]

Once I had a huge pile on the floor and figured I'd pay $2000.00-3,000.00. I asked the guy what he wanted.
He said $300.00. I remained calm and my GF who was always on the trips with me didn't blink. I paid him and
the 3 of us were happy.

So....my very first BIG swap meet was 1980 Fall Hershey. I JUST started working in a Pontiac store in August. I met up with a guy who sold NOS Pontiac parts. I had a 1960 Pontiac Star Chief at the time. Fortunately for me we had a lot of NOS parts in the basement that the parts manager called "junk". I was able to gets lots of parts I needed including NOS bumpers for free because the parts manager was happy to find a home for the "junk" (Thank you Sheldon). So... the guy at Hershey came to pick through the "junk". We were LOADED with NOS GTO parts. He loaded up his station wagon for a grand total of $200. The guy scored and the parts manager thought he screwed him. LMAO!!!