Interesting addition to the tail light

[Drache]

So recently I was looking for a tail light for my Dart due to one of them being damaged. I wasn't looking for NOS since my car at this time is just a daily driver, thus not wanting to spend $200-300 for a perfect one. I just hope that I got the right side of tail light is all

Anyways the tail light I received is pretty good except to two parts. The chrome is a little pockmarked and one of the plastic screw holes is broken.

What's neat was what was inside the tail light. Inside was a little strip of weathered paper with the date of 10/71 on it.

[terrible one]

Pretty cool.

So you got a tail light that a dealer returned/ exchanged to Chrysler because of the defects? Wonder how it got back into "circulation"

[tan top]

   intresting  find     this   re-enforces , maybe  what i have read & heard that  some of the NOS parts that are still around were ,  were rejected parts from the factory  etc or something along them lines 

[stripedelete]

 intresting  find     this   re-enforces , maybe  what i have read & heard that  some of the NOS parts that are still around were ,  were rejected parts from the factory  etc or something along them lines  

Maybe,, maybe not, or kinda, on the rejected thing.  Proof defective or rejected, would have been a warranty return tag.  In this case I would say it was part of a return/buyback program.  Just like the new car programs of the day (i.e., you can get 2 Omnis if you take 6 Monacos) they had, and still have, parts programs.  An example might be during a certain period a dealer could return miss-ordered or slow moving parts and receive $ .75 on the dollar instead of $.20. or $.20 instead of nothing (or something like that).  The dealer may or may not have to buy something in return.  (I'm sure we have some parts managers here that could be more specific)

Odds are it was broken at the dealership and a savvy parts manager tossed it into the program.  With that said, and to your point, there were probably more than a few "savvy" parts manager out there and more than a few bad parts made it back to the depot shelves.

GM had a program that allowed a dealer, buying a dealership, a onetime return at a decent rate (can't remember the %) in order to "start fresh".  If that dealer had another GM franchise he would toss in his obsolete inventory from the other store.   More opportunity for screwed up parts back in circulation.

Another way:

Sometimes a warrantied part was tagged, and placed back in the replacement's original box for convenience. Those parts remained at the dealership in case they were called in for inspection/audit.  Sometimes a car would come into the bodyshop (dealers).  Parts get ordered.  They go into the bodyshop world.  They decide to total the car.  The parts come back to parts department.  Lots of opportunity for "shelfwear" and or damage in the body shop.  Or, the new part is damaged in the bodyshop and they get a replacement.  Since the bodyshop buried the cost in the job they stick it up on a shelf or in a closet, etc.  

In the early 80's there was something crazy like one Chrysler dealership closing each week.  Businesses like Mitchell's were buying those inventories.  Voila, the warranty part, "shelf warn",  broken part, goes into circulation as NOS.  Rejected by somebody - but not the factory.  My guess is this greatest source of the of "not-right" NOS parts.

Some other minutia:

Chrysler's' first bankruptcy/bailout/recovery centered on taxes.  Part of the deal was that Chrysler could "write off" all obsolete inventory at full value if it were destroyed.  Of course this one of reason it was so damn tough and expensive to restore a Mopar in the 80's and 90's.  Anyway for a while "NOS" sheet metal would pop up in perfect condition - except the end was flat, rolled, or bent at a 90 degree angle.  Someone had access to that crusher.   My memory fails me right now ,but, there was a Canadian connection there.  Can't remember if the parts had Oak Leafs or everything was shipped there and crushed.  Anyway, that was sheet metal, but, I bet there were some other guys standing around when other parts being destroyed.  (what would one of us do?)

In the 90's there was a big Mopar scandal.  Someone at Mopar, or their supplier, had access to rejected cores (dumpster).  (Again, memory fails me, but I think they were calipers.)  They were selling the rejected cores to a few big Chrysler wholesale parts dealerships.  The dealers were then turning them back in for core reimbursement.  God only knows how many times the cores went through the cycle before someone recognized one or the numbers just didn't work out at Mopar.  (BTW, if you know this story - we probably know each other).  While they were not sought after resto parts, it's an example of crap getting back into distribuiton.      

With that said, my apologies in advance, if this is common knowledge or old news, just trying to make a contribution to the collective knowledge base.