I don't want to give anymore hints, but what are these-
#5965249
#5965251

Both boxes also have GR.2.682 printed on them? I'm wondering if these are NOS....

 

72 cutlass tail light lenses

i have a set of them NOS also.

 

Correct, but the boxes they came in are brand new....there is no way these are NOS. Plus, there is a barcode on the Genuine GM parts sticker....Obviously, they are new, but what is considered NOS? Also, was the silver spray paint they did the edges of the lenses in usually all over the red part of the lens(overspray)! When did GM stop producing these? These look like they were made and boxed last week!

 

just because they are NOS don't mean they were made back in 1972. they made some parts i am sure all the way into the 90s. if GM got ahold of the manufacturer and said they wanted another run of a certain part. the manufacturer will make another run but the part will only have to make an "acceptable" replacement. my NOS lenses also have over spray on them and have the same boxes as yours. i think these were made well into the 90s. a good example is the center caps. the ones that came on the cars in 70 had a bright red rocket, the early 80' has lines up and down in the rocket for the replacement parts, by the 90s the replacement had a darker red rocket. and all the above would be NOS for the same car.

 

basically, if GM no longer has a part available and will not make it available then it will be considered NOS. the problem is that some of the NOS parts i have seen i would not put on a daily driver. i have even heard of GM contacting a manufacturer of a part to get more and that manufacturer had it made by a third party that never made it in the first place.

 

Gotcha, so these technically would be "correct" for a concours type resto?

 

just depends on your interpretation of concourse. if you have a survivor they would be great. if you were doing a complete car back to as close to the way it left the factory, i would use the reproductions because they are better as far as the overspray. each NOS part has to be looked at close because some of them are of a lesser quality than the reproduction part. the reproduction people know that most of the parts they make are going on show cars. the original part makers just make parts to put on old cars to go down the road. that is why NOS in old boxes are almost always better.

 

What I'm asking would these be "accepted" as trying to do a "correct" resto. I would think repro stuff would be "less accepted".

 

it really does depend on what you are doing. they will be accepted as a correct restore. i had a 16,000 mile 72 W-30 that i sold in 2000. it had zero over spray on the tail light lenses. my NOS ones do. if something would have happened to the originals i would have not used anything but NOS on that car, even though the NOS are not as nice as the originals. the reproductions of the same lenses are identical to what was on the W30 i had. zero over spray and an exact copy of the original. if the car was not a survivor i would have used the reproductions in a heart beat. they are a better product than the NOS. they would have ben accepted as correct also because they would not have ben able to tell that they were reproduction. now this does not apply to every part. some other reproduction parts are junk and NOS is far better.

but yes they would be accepted as a correct part for a restore.

 

The trunk #s I bought were slightly smaller than the originals ...