I am looking at a 70 vista tailgate with pn 9801988 but my parts book only shows 9801991. My book is effective april 1983. Maybe there is another edition with another number?

 

This is the problem with using parts books that are far removed from the production date of the car, since they only list parts still in the network as of that date. FYI, that April 1983 edition is pretty worthless for 1964-72 parts.

The Jan 1972 edition of the parts book shows 9801988 for the single action tailgate and 9801989 for the dual action. This is the complete tailgate shell. The parts book also lists just the outer skin (which was also available separately). P/N 9801990 is the outer skin for single action, 9801991 for the dual action.

 

Yes you are right the later books have so many things either not there or changed numbers. I also have a few Cadillacs and have an earlier and also a later book for that reason. I wonder if a single action tailgate shell can be made to work for the dual action version. It's not very often you find a NOS anything for a Vista..