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NOS vs Repro

A

abrahamfh

Active Member
Allright ladies and gentlemen,

So I am noticing that NOS parts are getting really expensive compared to repro. I understand that the saying goes "save as many original parts/sheet metal as possible", but if you had a choice of replacing certain parts with one or the other, where can you afford to go with repro?

Bumper

Front Valance

Stone Deflector

Parking light assembly

Head light door

Head light extension

Fender splash shield

Fenders

Front cap rocker panel

Rocker panel

Door

Quarterpanel

Quarterpanel extension

Tail light panel

Rear Valance

Tail light assembly

Back up light assembly


Thank you in advance for everyones input, just would like to personally know and I hope others will benefit as well, as to where its best to spend the big bucks and where repro will get the job done. Im sure im missing some things in this list but if there is anything you all personally find important please do add it.
 
Without a doubt, the fender splash shields, rear light assemblies and backup lights are very good in reproduction.
 
Don't forget the Ford Tooling parts too. Much cheaper than NOS, but more expensive than repro. Ford Tooling parts made for 65-66 are hood, fenders, front valance, taillight panel, and I think that's it. I have the fenders, taillight panel, and front valance which all fit very nice and are quality parts.
 
Another reason why I ask is to get my parts list together for this weekends Goodguys swap meet at the Alameda County Fairground.

The more I continue researching the more I am realizing that the parts I thought we're undamaged at first are in fact damaged. For example, the head light extensions. BLAW!

When I first started the dis-assembly I was throwing a lot of things away because I thought I would just replace them with repro parts and now unfortunately paying for my mistakes. :cry
 
on my buddies 65 FB, he has replaced everything! I mean everything but the roof and roof inner structure. The repro parts he has are way better than the stuff I bought back in the 90's but he still has had a lot of issues with door shells and rear quarters. In fact he cut off a brand new quarter and bought another because he was having so many fit issues it wasn't worth keeping.
 
Bumpers-I'd go original and have it rechromed. Superior Chrome in SJ has done chroming for many of us locals. Excellent work. Do you have some originals already? If not, I know where there might be some good cores.
 
The ones I had on Fred we're beyond recovery.

Unfortunately when I first got Fred (before I knew anything about restoring anything) I figured I would just replace everything with repro. :cry Some good stuff got thrown away but the bumpers I remember very clearly were banged up pretty good.
 
Craig, if you have access to good cores, please PM me with the info.

As for NOS, remember that a lot of NOS parts were factory rejects put in a Ford box. I have an NOS driver fender and NOS headlight bucket and the fit between the two is awefull. I'll post a pick later.

Just because you pay a lot for NOS does not guarantee a good fit. And you have to remember that factory new cars had a lot of poor fitting parts too.
 
Here's the pics of my headlight buckets and fender. Headlight bucket and fender are both NOS, door is original Ford but not original to this car.

Headlight bucket sticks out past fender, maybe 1/8-3/16 seam, maybe more?
427_01_04_10_7_55_15_0.jpg

427_01_04_10_7_55_15_1.jpg


Fender to door seam is mostly uniform but waves back and forth, and gets really tight at the body line.
427_01_04_10_7_55_15_2.jpg
 
I think you're ok. The only real negative I've heard, at least for 65-66, is the trunk lid. I used repo quarter panel, valances, tail panel, hood, and was very pleased with fit.
 
Also, my passenger fender and my hood are Ford tooling reproduction. I have a perfect gap with everything on the passenger side between the hood, fender and cowl, and on the driver side to maintain the gap between the fender and hood the gap is wider between the fender and cowl. Hard to tell where the problem is though since the NOS driver fender matches up nicely with the door otherwise.

Point is, I did the best I could with NOS or Ford tooling parts up front and still don't have perfect gaps and seams all around. The entire back end of my car is Dynacorn parts except for original quarter end caps. everything in the back seems to be lined up really, really nice.
 
"Jack1966" said:
I think you're ok. The only real negative I've heard, at least for 65-66, is the trunk lid. I used repo quarter panel, valances, tail panel, hood, and was very pleased with fit.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the input, I think I can salvage my trunk lid. I am definitely going to have to do the valances and tail panel, unless I just use a repro to cut and patch the original.
 
"sigtauenus" said:
Also, my passenger fender and my hood are Ford tooling reproduction. I have a perfect gap with everything on the passenger side between the hood, fender and cowl, and on the driver side to maintain the gap between the fender and hood the gap is wider between the fender and cowl. Hard to tell where the problem is though since the NOS driver fender matches up nicely with the door otherwise.

Point is, I did the best I could with NOS or Ford tooling parts up front and still don't have perfect gaps and seams all around. The entire back end of my car is Dynacorn parts except for original quarter end caps. everything in the back seems to be lined up really, really nice.
Click to expand...

I guess it really is a trial and error thing, it all comes down to some tweaking and praying everything works out okay in the end.
 
"abrahamfh" said:
I guess it really is a trial and error thing, it all comes down to some tweaking and praying everything works out okay in the end.
Click to expand...
yeah, it's hard to say...
My fenders are repop, my door is an original ford door but from a different car. The fender was horrible around the cowl and door area as well as the headlight bucket area. I spent more hours on the fenders than any other part of the car.
Before
index.php


after a lot of work, welding filler and grinding and a little beating and hammering
index.php
 
The fiberglass flares... they are bolt-on rather than bondo on, it's an Eleanor thing.
72_11_08_09_5_00_43.jpg
 
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