MID YEAR EMBLEMS

[Sheldon S.]

I am wondering if someone can tell me whether NOS emblems are better quality than the current reproductions or if they are about the same. I have noticed that the NOS ones seem to get a little better price than repos. Thanks in advance. Sheldon

[Bill Clupper]

Re: MID YEAR EMBLEMS

It depends on your definition, there are several manufacturers of reproduction parts, so to an extent you must make an onsite comparision. Some parts have been "improved" meaning that some of the features of an "original" are not present, such as mold parting flash, and other features. These alterations make the part "Prettier" in the eyes of some people, but they are immediately detectable as non-original parts when viewed by a judge. I'd say don't buy without seeing and knowing exactly why you are buying this part in relation to what you plan on doing with the car

[Joe L.]

Re: MID YEAR EMBLEMS

Sheldon-----

Here's another case where the ambiguity and multiple meanings of the term "NOS" can cause confusion. By "NOS" I assume that you are talking about the emblems still available today from GM, of which most are. By one definition, and the most commonly used one, for that matter, such parts, available as they are under the original part number, are "NOS". However, the term "NOS", which of course means "new old stock", can be confusing here. These parts are still in production, so the current issue parts are not really "old stock". If you were to examine truly "old stock" examples of these parts under these very same part numbers, you might well find a considerable difference in quality. This happens for a variety of reasons, including tooling wear and other factors.

In any event, many of the current-issue GM emblems which are virtually all sold under their original PRODUCTION part numbers, are not up to quality of the originals. With respect to emblems, many of the reproductions are actually superior to the current-issue GM parts. What's more, many of these reproductions are "foreign" made. In fact, that's what enables them to be so good. To produce a high quality emblem can require a lot of hand work. The US vendors to GM have to cut corners somewhere to produce the emblems at a price that GM is willing to pay(if it gets too high GM will usually just discontinue the part). So, the labor used to produce the parts has to be minimized. That's another one of the reasons that the current-issue parts are not as good as the "old stock"; the cost of US labor has increased dramatically since the original parts were made. However, "foreign" sources have very low cost labor available to them which just happens to also be very adroit at handwork. Have you ever seen the intricate and fine detail of a Franklin Mint precision die-cast automobile model? Guess where it's done?

[Joe L.]

Addendum To Above Post

By the way, so that no one gets the wrong idea, I DID NOT mean to imply that "original" emblems were perfect OR even as good as some current reproductions. Generally, they were not as good as SOME current reproductions. But, in many cases, the "originals" were better, to one degree or another, than the current-issue GM pieces.