1959 Restoration Battery With a smaller battery inplant.

[Jimmy J.]

I have searched all the threads in the archives trying tofind out which small battery to use inside my cleaned out case. Does anyoneknow the brand name of battery and the product number? My car is a 1959.

Thanks,
Jimmy

[Lynn L.]

Re: 1959 Restoration Battery With a smaller battery inplant.

Optima series battery

[Jim D.]

Re: 1959 Restoration Battery With a smaller battery inplant.

Antique Auto Battery, which makes them and supplies them to Restoration Battery, uses Odyssey batteries inside the repo. cases. You can go to their site and see which one fits - http://www.odysseybattery.com/battspecs.html

[Joe M.]

Re: 1959 Restoration Battery With a smaller battery inplant.

I have one in my 1960 and the battery length fits between the two outer "fill" caps. I was surprised when I first purchased the battery and took the caps off and realized how small the AGM battery is. It has worked well for over 12 months, including raising my power top which pulls 30 amps.

[Ronald L.]

Re: 1959 Restoration Battery With a smaller battery inplant.

I know about 4 years back there was a detailed presentation, but what is not clear is how you keep the tar and all the stuff on top in place when it was a top filled box and you are ripping it apart from the bottom? Does any one have better pictures?

[Joe M.]

Re: 1959 Restoration Battery With a smaller battery inplant.

The repro battery I just rebuilt was filled from the bottom. I believe the original thread was about repro tar top batteries.

[Gary J.]

Re: 1959 Restoration Battery With a smaller battery inplant.

There was an articile in the Restorer a few years back. Maybe someone can remember which issue it was in.

[Gene M.]

Re: 1959 Restoration Battery With a smaller battery inplant.

One persons responds Optima and another answers Odyssey. Which is it?

[Jack M.]

Re: 1959 Restoration Battery With a smaller battery inplant.

There was an articile in the Restorer a few years back. Maybe someone can remember which issue it was in.

One persons responds Optima and another answers Odyssey. Which is it?

BOTH batteries are mentioned in the Corvette Restorer Article: Summer 2011 - Volume 38, Number 1

[Ronald L.]

Re: 1959 Restoration Battery With a smaller battery inplant.

Optima is rated in some searches of best of, but the bigger question is what size EXACTLY goes int a DC-12 for example?

One of the older posts talks about a Optima 925 which I haven't seen come up in the Optima searches...
Then what do you do with the posts, there are other batteries, Kinetik & XS Power that have side terminals which would seem better option in what we are trying to do with stuffing a smaller more powerful battery in an old battery shell.

[Jim D.]

Re: 1959 Restoration Battery With a smaller battery inplant.

One persons responds Optima and another answers Odyssey. Which is it?

The battery that is inside the Antique Batteries is made by Odyssey. It is a custom size made exclusively for Antique Battery and is not part of their regular line available for sale to the public.

[Jim D.]

Re: 1959 Restoration Battery With a smaller battery inplant.

One of the older posts talks about a Optima 925 which I haven't seen come up in the Optima searches...

Probably because the 925 is made by Odyssey not Optima.

[Ronald L.]

Re: 1959 Restoration Battery With a smaller battery inplant.

I do not a single Optima that fits within a DC-12


The Odyssey 925 is way off too, or their web site dimensions for all the versions is wrong.

[Gene M.]

Re: 1959 Restoration Battery With a smaller battery inplant.

The battery that is inside the Antique Batteries is made by Odyssey. It is a custom size made exclusively for Antique Battery and is not part of their regular line available for sale to the public.

Jim, have pulled one of the Antique Batteries apart to see just what the Odyssey inside looks like? Pictures? Top or side post? Dimensions? How the terminals are hooked up? The Odyssey that Summit sells for race cars from what I gather is not for constant driver use. They are dry cell batteries.

[Jim D.]

Re: 1959 Restoration Battery With a smaller battery inplant.

Jim, have pulled one of the Antique Batteries apart to see just what the Odyssey inside looks like? Pictures? Top or side post? Dimensions? How the terminals are hooked up? The Odyssey that Summit sells for race cars from what I gather is not for constant driver use. They are dry cell batteries.

I haven't taken an Antique battery apart. My information comes from Delores, who used to run Antique Battery, and Bruce Essig from Odyssey Battery. I talk to Bruce yearly at SEMA as he's advised me on which battery to use for my "non-Corvette" projects. The last one I purchased was the PC680. It measures 7.27" X 3.11" X 6.62" and weighs 15lbs. It has performed flawlessly on a somewhat daily driver with a 400HP small block. Here's one of Bruces videos about the batteries - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HM1ikqa8nUw