decifer "66 spare tire date

[Steve T.]

Would appreciate thoughts on what date this spare tire is pulled from the tire tub of my "66. Rim has been removed to allow a newer tire to stay in the tire tub

Thanks for any thoughts

Steve

[Marco H.]

Re: decifer "66 spare tire date

Steve,

I'm not sure what vintage this tire is. Based on the lack of any DOT designation or modern "warnings", id day it is a period correct tire. The JG should help you with further identification.

Modern tires are dated by the last four digits in the DOT number. I.E. 4617 The first two numbers reflect the week of production (46). The last two numbers reflect the Year of production (17=2017) I'm not certain how far back this date formatting goes.

Hope this helps,
Marco

[Michael V.]

Re: decifer "66 spare tire date

Steve,
There is many articles on date coding Goodyear tires but no one that I know has figured out to determine when Firestone tires. As Marco pointed out that the lack of a DOT designation makes it vintage correct.

[Terry M.]

Re: decifer "66 spare tire date

Steve,

I'm not sure what vintage this tire is. Based on the lack of any DOT designation or modern "warnings", id day it is a period correct tire. The JG should help you with further identification.

Modern tires are dated by the last four digits in the DOT number. I.E. 4617 The first two numbers reflect the week of production (46). The last two numbers reflect the Year of production (17=2017) I'm not certain how far back this date formatting goes.

Hope this helps,
Marco

Just for reference Marco: That Federally mandated tire date coding you reference began in the Spring of 1971. There are many stories about the DOT rules that brought about that coding and the reasons behind it. Even the beginning of the date phase in (It was supposed to start January 1, 1971) has stories attached.

That date coding changed with the current century, and the code you cite is for this century. There are only three numbers in the code for last century. Thus only the last number is the year. One can not tell if the tire was made in 1977, 1987 of 1997 as an example.

PS: Michael V is correct in that so far the only proprietary tire date codes we know are for Goodyear. We have printed those codes in the 1968-69 and 1970-72 Judging Manuals. I don't know if other Judging Manuals also have them, but those codes go back to WW II.

[Steve T.]

Re: decifer "66 spare tire date

Thank you all for the information

[Howard K.]

Re: decifer "66 spare tire date

Most of the Firestone 775x15 tires I have seen (primarily late 66 and 67 redline tires) are coded with three numbers followed by two letters followed by three numbers. I am calling this the tire identification code and is impressed into the back of the tire, not raised characters moulded into the tire. The first three numbers are usually 000, 001, or 002. From my research, the two letters are date codes with the second letter being the year and possibly the first letter being the month. This is at least my theory. This pattern seems to also hold true for the 68-70 Firestone tires. I have seen several tires that were original spares off low mileage unrestored 67 model year cars that were built in late 1966 with a E as the second letter. Since the rally wheels were not dated by the valve stem in 66 (steel and not rally), 67, and early 68, it may be impossible to determine the month date code. However, the month coding seems to be the same on 68, 69, and 70 wheels which are date coded by the valve stem.

I would venture a guess guess that the AD on your tire is the date code. It also appears to be a vintage tire based on the 8 characters in the tire identification code.

I will also start a thread on Firestone tire date codes 1966-1970.

Howard Key (2718)

[Steve T.]

Re: decifer "66 spare tire date

Howard,

Thank you for your information and insight
For your use, the pictures of the tire I posted are from an Early December 65 build date Taken
There was no tread wear on the tire that I can see, so perhaps it is original.

[Ara G.]

Re: decifer "66 spare tire date

I'm not a betting man Steve, but that's an original tire. As stated, only Goodyears had coding for dates to my knowledge. Also, no DOT markings, correct "pimples" at each end of the serial number of your tire and font of brand of tire makes me have little question this is an original tire. Nice find. Hope you and Ann are well my friend.
ARA

[Steve T.]

Re: decifer "66 spare tire date

Ara,

Thank you for your post and supporting thoughts on the originality of the tire.
I did find information regarding the Goodyear tires but the Firestone tires remain tough to decipher.

I appreciate your insight and hope you and Deborah as well as the "Younger" NCRS members of the family are safe and well

Steve