1968 Curious what Brian Boitiano would do? Or you?

[obwan93001]

I'd like to get some opinions on what I should do here. I bought a set of four supposedly NOS, k, stop laughing y'all, '67 Styled steel wheel center caps thru ebay and although per the pics they are not in any packaging they do appear new. Well, got them in the mail yesterday and yep, no Ford packaging and they do look shiny and all but I do notice what I think are signs of some use. There is some gray dust/grime deep on the insides and one even has very, very minor pitting, barely noticeable but there and a couple of small spots of surface rust on an inside edge on one of them. The one did have a slight nick in the chrome on the outside of it as noted in the description but like I said above they do look slightly used. Here is a link to the listing so you can see the pics:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=150451685224&viewitem=&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWAX%3AIT

I emailed the seller telling him and he replied back w/the following:

Oscar,
you have to remember NOS parts are 43 years old and they are going to have some dust and or pitting due to the conditions in warehouse they were in for 43 years. Yeah, they are new, but they are also 43 years old. I won't do a partial refund, and I normally don't do refunds, but you can ship them back and I'll refund your money not including shipping.
Thanks
Andy

I got them thru a Second Chance offer and only paid $101 total w/shipping for them. Seeing I paid less than what NPD sells the new repop ones for should I just keep these? My CS is not being done up to concours specs and will be used for errands and such, heehee unlike a real '60's Shelby btw :tongue:, so the small nick doesn't bother me and the dust/grime can be cleaned up to avoid any build up that may cause rust issues down the line plus is on the inside so wouldn't be seen anyhow. I guess what I'm getting at here is should I eat the $5 I already paid for shipping plus another $5 to ship back just to let this guy know I don't agree w/the condition of the caps or should I just keep 'em and be happy I didn't get some used repops and that they weren't in worse condition. I'd hate to leave negative feedback if this guy really did sell me NOS caps just no longer in their orig Ford packaging, would like to give this guy the shadow of a doubt but if he knew they weren't really new and misled me then hey !

Now, speaking of repops, these caps all have the Fomoco logo and Ford p/n as pictured in the listing, does anyone know if the repop caps have that on them as well? If made w/orig tooling I would think they would but I've never looked at a repop cap so not sure. I'll try to pop into the Ventura NPD warehouse this week and see if they'll show me one.

My only other ebay experiences w/NOS parts have been a Ford trunk light for '68 Mustang in original Ford box, a pair of '65 Tbird tail light lenses I got last week (both in water damaged but still sealed original Ford boxes and still have the stickers from Dallas dealer who originally sold them, opened one box and the lens is fine), a Ford Mustang Cougar 1963-69 289/302 AT Flywheel and a front lower valance both from one seller which I haven't paid for yet so don't have them in hand, btw, I am paying $225. total w/shipping for the flywheel and valance and they both were pictured w/their respective Ford packaging, only having been taken out for pics and inspection before sale. Although I took a chance on the lenses as the seller's pic showed them sitting on a chair w/o any Ford packaging (std photo they use for the listing I guess) I got them for $77 w/shipping, less than new repop lenses, but got lucky w/them. Now as far as the caps I'd still like to know what you'd do if this happened to you. This is probably something I shouldn't even be worrying much about since I got them for such a good price but it kinda irked me when I saw them.

Sorry for the long ass post, I always start out trying to keep things short but my damn fingers just keep typing. Shouldn't have never taken them typing classes in HS w/my gf at the time!

Thanks guys!

Oscar

 

[Ruppstang]

I am sure that are Ford. Lots of the time the packageing is lost or damaged. A little shelf wear is also normal. When this is the case you usely buy thr stuff at a lower price as you did. The repops are not the right color,they screw on insted of cliping on and they cost around $33 each. I payed over $50 each for NOS ones that weren't much better. Are you using 67 styled wheels on your CS? Marty

 

[DeadStang]

I'd let it go and use them.

 

[CougarCJ]

Shelf wear and climate conditions do take a toll over time.

NOS parts aren't always that great, especially ones that have chrome plating or vacuum plating.
I have also heard stories that a lot of the NOS parts in circulation are dealer returned parts or 2nds from the vendors, or even parts that were manufactured much later than you would think with less than stellar quality control.

 

[obwan93001]

Thanks guys, I knew I could get some direction here. I was just a bit irked and seeing the price wasn't too bad I wasn't sure what the heck to do. I've decided to keep them as is and have emailed the seller letting him know.

Thanks again!

Oscar