Oldest "part" on a car?

Pick a car, any car.  Then consider what the "oldest" part on that car may be.  By "oldest" I mean the part the manufacturer has used the longest without any design change whatsoever.  The part that in theory you could use on a car from X years ago. What do you think it might be?

For the sake of this exercise, we will exclude wires and fuses.  It should have an OEM part number.

I would guess that you could probably take a radiator cap off a 2020 silverado and use it on something at least back to the 30's(edit, looks like they went plastic, but someone is probably still using a standard metal cap, maybe something in brazil or china)

 You can order a connecting rod bearing for a new chevy LS/LT v8 and use it in a 1968 small block

I believe I've seen those spiral hood assist springs on GM trucks from the 30s

Schrader valve stems.

lug nuts. or some generic bolt, although I think those are usually handled by a spec rather than a part number.

Ford still makes the brass float for fuel pumps that has a c0az prefix that they carried well into the 00's.

Doh, I need to dig up part numbers.

When I worked at Year One we got a shocking number of "restoration" parts from the local GM dealer. Stuff that had been in production decades and just never changed because they didn't need to. The one I remember most was a dipstick tube.

Rear end bearings. 
some are from model t  and a days.

slefain said:

Doh, I need to dig up part numbers.

When I worked at Year One we got a shocking number of "restoration" parts from the local GM dealer. Stuff that had been in production decades and just never changed because they didn't need to. The one I remember most was a dipstick tube.

Good example!

That's the kind of thing I was wondering about.

I looked up alternators, but they switched over from dynamos in the 1960s.

Paper air filters have not changed much, but they were only introduced in the 1950s. Same with oil filters.

Spark plugs?

GM mechanical fuel pump?

Pete Gossett (Forum Supporter) said:

GM mechanical fuel pump?

Is it still used on a car/truck?

I am excluding spark plugs, fasteners, and stuff.  I was thinking "proprietary".

The turn signal flasher.

Ford's keyless entry pad innards for the door. I'd bet money that the one in my Flex is the same as the one in my Turbo Coupe. The outside buttons are different, but they are identical in spacing, feel, and function.

Engine bearings. Pretty much the same since someone got tired of pouring  and scraping babbitt bearings.

NOHOME said:

Engine bearings. Pretty much the same since someone got tired of pouring  and scraping babbitt bearings.

Let's play this one out.  Say I pick a new Silverado with a V8 -- how far back will those engine bearings go? 

If you are looking for a specific part number, I think they may not go back quite as far as you might imagine.  Pretty big shift in almost everything through the 90's-00's.

Differential pinion bearings could go back a long way.  GM trans rear seals might go back to the 60's.  

One of the early examples was a rad cap.  Nope.  I haven't seen a traditional quarter turn metal cap on anything built for quite a while- probably 20 years. (I'm sure someone will give me an example of my wrongness soon.)

The rubber foot pads on the brake and clutch pedals in my 1961 Pontiac were part number 494832.  Pontiac used the same part number from 1935 through 1962.

Leaf springs! Can't imagine the metallurgy has changed much!

ZOO (Forum Supporter) said:

NOHOME said:

Engine bearings. Pretty much the same since someone got tired of pouring  and scraping babbitt bearings.

Let's play this one out.  Say I pick a new Silverado with a V8 -- how far back will those engine bearings go? 

See my reply above.  The connecting rod bearings go back to 1968 when they switched from the small journal crank in small blocks

The little digital clock.

Do they even make replacements? Can the clock even break?

TopNoodles said:

The little digital clock.

Do they even make replacements? Can the clock even break?

My g/f's matrix clock doesnt work. It's infuriating. She wont let me fix it either, says it frees her from the constraints of time. 

Carbon (Forum Supporter) said:

 

My g/f's matrix clock doesnt work. It's infuriating. She wont let me fix it either, says it frees her from the constraints of time. 

What?, is she Dr Who? Does she have issues with the disappearance of phone booths?

MadScientistMatt said:

Schrader valve stems.

Maybe up until TPMS became a thing.

The pieces of ash forming the frame of a Morgan Plus Four? :)