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I saw this on ebay today. It is a 53-54 parking lamp door. The seller says it is NOS but there is no FoMoCo box. Plus it has paint chips but no rust. The curious thing is that it has these letters stamped on the outside top of the bezel where it is visible. Letters are "FTP-53." It is not a part number or engineering number but could it stand for Ford Truck Part-1953?
Can anyone give me insight to satisfy my curiosity.
I wouldn't go so far as to say it isn't NOS, there are no marks around the screw holes so it may have never been installed, but it surely has more than its fair share of shelf wear and is in no better condition than a good used part. It needs a full restoration to be useable which takes away from the whole point of looking for NOS parts for your restoration project. The price should reflect that, imho. The fact it has no box doesn't change the fact it could still be a 'new' part, but when looking for NOS and collectability, that would play a factor, too. Having the correct, early style red letter box adds to the provenance, which means value. Here's another one on ebay that is NOS in the box, in a much better condition for less than half the price. These bezels don't seem to be rare or of any particular special value. That's my 2c. https://www.ebay.com/itm/19326038242...53.m1438.l2649
Interesting. I'm not a buyer, just curious. I thought it odd to have letters stamped on a visible part of a piece. So a good part with no paint chips or scratches could not be put on a truck out of the box. Unless you don't care about those letters. I've looked at a lot of NOS parts and I've never seen that.
I wouldn't go so far as to say it isn't NOS, there are no marks around the screw holes so it may have never been installed, but it surely has more than its fair share of shelf wear and is in no better condition than a good used part. It needs a full restoration to be useable which takes away from the whole point of looking for NOS parts for your restoration project. The price should reflect that, imho. The fact it has no box doesn't change the fact it could still be a 'new' part, but when looking for NOS and collectability, that would play a factor, too. Having the correct, early style red letter box adds to the provenance, which means value. Here's another one on ebay that is NOS in the box, in a much better condition for less than half the price. These bezels don't seem to be rare or of any particular special value. That's my 2c. https://www.ebay.com/itm/19326038242...53.m1438.l2649
PS: Happy New Year, Rico!
@Wayne: Happy New Year too! This of course for all FTE!
Interesting. I'm not a buyer, just curious. I thought it odd to have letters stamped on a visible part of a piece. So a good part with no paint chips or scratches could not be put on a truck out of the box. Unless you don't care about those letters. I've looked at a lot of NOS parts and I've never seen that.
A good part with no chips or scratches would have been put on a truck, letters notwithstanding. That's the way they were, and no one cared. If yours are still the original ones, (not repro's) they should have the same markings, and since you've never noticed them before, well, there you go.
'51-'52 glass parking light lenses have FTP-51 on the glass . Looked for 2 yrs. before I found a set . They were expensive but worth it for the First Ride .points in AACA and yes they check them & the FoMoCo head lights . Will be watching the judging procedure end of Feb . in Melbourne , Fla. .The AACA Winer Meet is going to be held on the grounds of the American Muscle Car Museum . The museum is spectacular . Check it out on the web . Mark P. has way too much $$$$$$ in cars . The facility is 100% solar powered . .
Some of the "NOS" parts I've purchased for my Mercury over the years have led me to believe they weren't actually new, but were instead the replaced part that was put back into the new box and placed on a dealer's shelf for a few decades. They either aren't perfect enough to be "new" old stock, or they don't work at all.
The NOS and NORS (New Old Stock and New Old Replacement Stock) discussion has been around for many years. I've been playing with this old "junk" since the mid-1960s and worked in my uncle's junkyard prior to that as a kid growing up. The one important, concerning fact is that Ford and other manufacturers had a lot of parts built by outside sources. Some of the parts carried the Ford logo, some installed parts retained the manufacturer's logo, some did not and some parts carried more than one logo; Kelsy Hayes wheels that were built for Ford had the KH logo and the Ford logo. We have no way to know what the specifications may have been, especially smaller, simpler parts such as Abe is questioning. As Denny mentioned, knowledgeable judges will look for a trademark or logo where one is known to be. Many parking lot judges have no clue and really don't care. And, FWIW, I've judged T Birds on a national level where originality was very well documented. Playing with this old junk has been a great hobby.
'51-'52 glass parking light lenses have FTP-51 on the glass . Looked for 2 yrs. before I found a set . They were expensive but worth it for the First Ride .points in AACA and yes they check them & the FoMoCo head lights . Will be watching the judging procedure end of Feb . in Melbourne , Fla. .The AACA Winer Meet is going to be held on the grounds of the American Muscle Car Museum . The museum is spectacular . Check it out on the web . Mark P. has way too much $$$$$$ in cars . The facility is 100% solar powered . .
Actually for whatever it’s worth the glass ones you find are NORS. The originals were plastic lens as reproduced currently. The later replacements, which are vintage aftermarket came in glass. But OEM ford factory were the plastic.
I have what is left of the original parking lamp doors and lenses for my 52. The lenses are indeed plastic--not glass. I should rehab the doors some day and get rid of the cheesy repos I have. The plastic lenses are too far gone to do much with.
I bought 2 really nice pair of the glass NORS lens thinking it’d be cool to have glass on there so I get them and they don’t fit. Story of my life with this truck! 😂
OEM headlights I believe were either GE or Westinghouse branded no nibs. I found a working NOS pair of GE sealed no nib bulbs after the Westinghouse pair smoked out.
I searched through my pictures. Dang, it's hard for me to find things. I couldn't see any markings on the parking light cover. But the lens has FTPT-55
I need to run out to the shop and take a closer look, but it's cold and it's been a long day. So, here is this picture to tide you over.
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