Just curious- what is GM's rationale for when parts are discontinued? I see that they still offer lots of interior and major mechanical parts for Third Gens but there are some parts that are discontinued, without any seeming rhyme or reason. For example, I recently purchased a new set of N96 16x8 rims for my 87 Trans Am direct from GM, no problems. However, the wheel centers were not included and when I contacted the dealer, he said that they have been discontinued for many years. So let me get this right- GM still sells the wheels but they don't sell the wheel centers???

I'd guess it's whatever is left in a warehouse somewhere. Some dealers might have stock of these parts where someone ordered them and didn't pick them up too. Figure not much demand for the wheels but the center caps would be a hot item so they'd sell out quicker. Be interesting to go through some of the dealer parts and factory warehouses and see what's left I think.

Computor controlled invetories can be oddball at times.They look at movement of an item over a given period of time.Now you'd thing the caps would be kept in stock as they are more likely to be lost or stolen.Where as a wheel unless it's stolen or bent in an accident - or someone forgets to tighten the lugs - holds up many years.genegerally it's 10 to 15 years to hold back inventory.it comes down to how popular the model was and even to the individual dealers.Performance/restoration oriented dealers may hold onto,maybe even gather certain items for thier stock.

Believe it or not when a discontinued part sits on the dealer shelf for a long period of time,It gets sent back to Gm and destroyed.

Yep, the Parts Dept. is really weird like that. For instance, passenger side sill plates are still in reproduction but the driver's side is not! And the A/T shifter plates are no longer produced anymore either along with the dash pads. I guess the partsyards gotta stay in business somehow.

i was at the dealer today and the right parking lamp from my 91 fomrula is still availiblie but the LH side was disc.

i dont get how they can do away wtih one side and not the other

My local dealership told me that the parts that GM still has in stock as a rule usually are items that fit across model lines (Firebird, Formula, Trans Am, GTA) and so forth. Most of the specific stuff is gone. But then some of you have just posted some scenarios that dispute that "rule".... like with the parking lamps above, so who really knows.... Maybe it's just the luck of the draw or something.

We are lucky, though.... I have a five-year-old Dodge truck that already has a discontinued seat heater.....

Id like to see some good aftermarket emblems...

Preferrably before I have to fab up some.

GM's logic on this definitely baffles me.

Production and available are two different things.

Available means it was produced and sitting in one of the warehouses or another dealer somewhere.

Still in production? hah I'd prolly fall over dead if u found something for our cars still in production. They prolly havent stamped sheet metal or any int. pieces for our cars in years.(ill not use any parts that fit a current model as an example however)

Thats why u can get a left and not a right or vice versa, its just gone as in they ran out. Newest ones are 14 yrs old.

There is some hope to all this GN cranks and long block/short blocks were out of stock for a number of years and GM made a new run every so often. But it was available and then not for 2 yrs at a time.

I have never seen this happen with body panels or interior pieces however. So I hope they prove me wrong, but I'm not holding my breath.

later
Jeremy

Actually, I think when parts are discontinued by GM, parts "buyers" purchase the remaining stock and then sell them through there own outlets or to other companies.

In fact, I bet if you had enough venture capital and the "right" connections, you could do what some people are doing...buy up vast quantities of old NOS parts and then sell them (acting as a middle man) to the aftermarket or just sell them on E-bay.

That's one thing I like about owning a Toyota. They carry OEM parts for their vehicles for a looong time. You could practically get any OEM part you ever wanted for the '84-'88 Toyota Hilux PU. I use to own an '88 Toyota PU.

I think places like Classic Industries buy up the remaining 3rd gen GM parts and then sell them through their own catalogs. I've noticed that many parts recently discontinued by GM seem to then wind up being "available" through Classic Industries, The Paddock and the others.

If the part moves, GM carries it. They tend to get deactiviated from stock after very little part movement or none at all. thats the only time stuff makes it to the bigger outfits that deal in old NOS(I'm talking the legit ones, not wanna be over priced resto houses, there are places that deal in older parts that dont screw you)

The older it is the more likely it will not be replaced when current supplies are exhausted.

On more and more of stuff for our cars, I find that alot of times all the supposed aftermarket suppliers like year one and the rest dont have things in stock either or its continual back order. this has happened to me on several items several times. they were never filled either. Just like dealer locaters for parts, they can all make the puters read in stock if they so wish, and alot of them do.

Other part of the equation is as the "resto" houses buy the parts from stock, it actually forces us to pay higher prices when before we could use a prior dealer hookup. Also discontinues the parts sooner cause the supplies are exhausted faster.

later
Jeremy

Typically manufacturers only catalog parts for 7 years, as dictated by federal law. After that they no longer need to, but if it generates profit... Look at interior door handles for F150 trucks. After the seven years, FORD disco'd them. The aftermarket stepped in and makes a killing on those cheap *** plastic parts.
As mentioned earlier, every dealer is allowed an obsolete parts return based on the previous years sales. The dealer can return x amount of parts which the manufacturer usually destroys. The amount returned is credited to their billing account.