by Scott Kolecki

Created on: February 18, 2009

It used to be that when you wanted to repair, rebuild or restore your car, you need look no further than your local dealership. Parts departments used to stock large quantities of fenders, quarter panels, door skins, etc. It was not uncommon to find body parts for vehicles that were no longer in production, especially on American made models such as Ford, Chevrolet, Pontiac and Buick. However, as material storage costs increased and as the manufacturing of OEM body parts for older vehicles decreased, the ability to locate and purchase these parts became increasingly difficult. As a result, a subset of manufacturers began developing aftermarket replacement body parts.

Automotive purists will argue that aftermarket body parts are not manufactured from the same casts as their OEM counterparts, often resulting in parts that do not line up correctly or require serious modification during installation. In addition, the grade of steel used in these aftermarket parts does not have the same integrity or quality of the OEM parts, resulting in parts that fatigue or rust more easily and detract from the overall value of the vehicle. However, because of the absence of available OEM parts, many people turned to these aftermarket parts out of necessity.

Before the advent of the internet, locating OEM parts was limited to local dealership searches or combing through junkyard after junkyard to locate a body panel that might be in good enough shape to be re-used. Even then, most of the searches were in vein and, when a successful match was found, still often required significant repair to the part before it could be re-used. However, with the development of the internet, a new generation of automotive restorers have discovered that the world wide web has re-opened the door to locating available OEM parts.

When using the internet to locate OEM parts, it is still important to have a clear understanding of exactly what you are looking for. Doing your homework before beginning your search will increase the probability that you will find what you are looking for. Most OEM parts have a multiple digit part number stamped on them or tagged to them. While you may not have access to that part number, there are a number of sites on the internet that you can use to locate this number. Even if you know the year of your vehicle, it is still important that you confirm that you are searching for the right part. Remember that many vehicles came with different trim levels and, in some cases, different

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