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Because it stands for New Old Stock,it does not clarify how old an item actually is,or if it is still readily available.
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Much of the confusion with the term NOS is due to the old car hobby interpreting its meaning as "new old stock," which does not allow for the distinction to be made between factory parts that you can still buy, and factory parts that have been discontinued.
I'm still trying to find the reference for this, but the term NOS actually stands for "New Obsolete Stock," which refers to new factory items that are no longer being manufactured (i.e., obsolete). So, by this definition the new 70 Chevelle taillight lenses that you can still buy from GM are technically not NOS because they are not obsolete. Unfortunately, the NOS term is regularly applied to these parts which can still be ordered at any GM parts counter.
Describing a part as both New and Old offers little guideance for how to differentiate between various New factory parts. On the contrary, the terms New and Obsolete together make it much more clear.
NOS = New Obsolete Stock
