My curiousity has won out over pride. I've asked many gearhead friends and none of them seem to know what NOS stands for. Just for the record does OEM stand for orignial equiment manufacturer?
Just for the record, yes, I'm new at this stuff and no I'm not blond.
NOS means New Old Stock. If a part is NOS, that means that it's an original part made by the manufacturer, but it's no longer made. So if you needed a motor mount, that's no longer made by Ford, but someone has one that's been sitting new on the shelf for 20 years, that's NOS.
Unfortunately, many people throw "NOS" onto pieces that are still offered by the OEM, and aftermarket parts as well, which would technically be NORS (New Old Replacement Stock).
Leastwise, that's the way it was when I was a young'un.