Springfest '24 Parts Vendors

[corvairsince70]

Anytime I have gone to Corvair shows over the years, I always enjoy visiting the parts vendors. As fellow Corvair people, one would expect them to be honest. I bought a part from one of the outdoor vendors in Helen this year. It was in the original GM box. I opened the box to see that the part agreed with the part number on the box. But I did not take the part out and fully inspect it (my mistake). I did not think a vendor would put used parts in a GM box and pass them off as NOS.
It was not a lot of money, it is more the principle. Maybe the vendor will see this, recognize the box, and give me a refund.

[Vairone]

I did not think a vendor would put used parts in a GM box and pass them off as NOS. It was not a lot of money, it is more the principle. Maybe the vendor will see this, recognize the box, and give me a refund.

Two times I have purchased a bunch of Corvair parts at a garage sale type event. Private party sale, friends or family selling parts for a relative, or spouse. Not taking the time to look inside every box, just looking at the NOS boxes to get an idea of what is there and what to offer. After getting the parts home, and inspecting each box I find some used parts in the NOS boxes.

In these examples the sellers of the parts did not put the used parts in the NOS boxes, it was the original purchaser. The sellers had no idea what was in the boxes, they were just trying to clean up and liquidate an estate. The original purchaser probably put the old part in the new box to keep track of what they replaced. Or they just liked to keep the NOS boxes. I know, kind of strange, but I have these examples of people doing this. No fraud intended.

Not taking the side of the vendor in your example, but a similar thing may have happened. The vendor did intentionally sell you used parts in NOS boxes, he just got some parts in NOS boxes which had used parts inside.

[zarfnober]

This sort of thing happens regularly amongst tube amplifier people, and often someone will find a servicemans RCA box full of NOS tubes at an auction or estate sale, only to find that's where the service guy put the old bad ones.Fortunatrly those old service boxes have some value too. Buyer beware.

[vairmech]

Personally I would have to reserve any judgement until I actually saw the part in person. There are many signs that would point to a used part, not just a few cracks in the inside corners. Keep in mind that 50+ years is a long time to sit for any rubber product.
Some of the things to look for, was the metal ring installed? It would have left some kind of mark, was the boot dirty at all? It's almost impossible to get rubber to clean up and shine like a new part and get ALL the dirt.

Those are just some of the smaller details to look at determining a new or used part.