Please help settle a disagreement. I've been told by retired mechanics, retired Ford assembly line workers, retired car salsemen, and other Ford owners, that is was not uncommon for Ford to use NOS parts on their new cars. For instance, it wouldn't be uncommon to see 1967 parts on 1968 cars coming off the assembly line, and so forth. Is this a correct statement? I'm asking because I have been challenged by a person who claims to be a car show judge, who adamantly says Ford "NEVER" did this. Your input either way will be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

 

It was common and probably still is common practice to use up the 'old' parts. Mostly common with mid year production start up of the new model year. They also would sometimes grab parts form other model lines when needed to keep the line rolling.
I can tell you that my 86 GT that was purchased new and ordered pre-production start up had two '85 year carry overs. One was simply the exterior paint color code on the data plate. The other was the style of A/C line connection to the evaporator. In '86 they switched to the quick connect style and prior to that they screwed together. My January of 86 built car still had the 85 screw together set up.
Somewhat related the official Ford Shop Manual I brought for my '05 still has line drawings of the New Edge body style in at least one place if not more.

 

Thanks very much for the reply!

 

No problem, And IMO you have more than enough 'expert witnesses' on your side without any other testimony needed.

 

There are tons of people out there who claim to be "car show" judges. That can just mean that they were at some show that needed judges and they volunteered. It doesn't necessarily mean they know a lot. I agree there was a lot of previous model year parts used on cars just to use up the parts.

 

Thanks for the reply cashs mom. Now this person is also telling me that if any previous model year parts WERE used on new cars it didn't include things such as wheel covers and other types of exterior trim. Anyone have any info about that?

 

As already stated by other members, it's common and still goes on today. Unless something was a safety hazard (uncommon in those days for things to be recalled) they would simply use up existing inventory before transitioning to the new part.

A good modern day example is this. My 08 was built in Oct of 07 and the head has a two piece spark plug design (crappy design and Ford knew this for years). For the 08 models Ford revised the head to accommodate a one piece spark plug design but, they didn't start building those until Nov 07. So, some 08 will still have the 07 head. Thus they go by 'build date' on what plugs your 08 should use.

 

Personally, I'd just say "Thank you very much for that" and ignore what this person said. It doesn't really matter anyway. Since he's already backpedalled when caught out, he probably doesn't really know much and is just talking Bacon Sandwich.

 

I'd be seriously questioning that car show judge's credibility. Ford is famous for using up whatever they still have left over from the previous years parts bin from one year to the next.