'68 Red Line Tires, Original?

[Dennis M.]

I just acquired a set of Firestone F-70 15 Red Line Wide Ovals, Super Sport tires. They appear to be original. Is there anything that should stick out to indicate a reproduction tire, (i.e. Coker tire or other re-manufaturer of Firestone tires) verse an original. The hardness of the tire makes me believe these may be original.

[Kevin M.]

Re: '68 Red Line Tires, Original?

On a repop the redline is applied to a finished tire by grinding a grove and filling it, you can usually see signs of that process. An original tire had the red molded in and then the line was made by scraping off the top layer of black exposing the red. I have a neat picture somewhere that Jerry Bramlett sent me when I find it I'll post it.

Kevin

[Patrick H.]

Re: '68 Red Line Tires, Original?

The presence or absence of a DOT stamp should be the best clue of all.

Patrick

[Kevin M.]

Re: '68 Red Line Tires, Original?

Here's the picture the arrow points to the original gold line. in the side view you can see the grove. Patrick's right about the DOT but it can be removed and I didn't know when DOT appeared.

Kevin

[Jack H.]

DOT went into effect...

Jan 1st of 1968. Perhaps the rarest of the rare are the tires that started production prior to the law taking effect and finished for shipment after the law went into effect!

I had the pleasure to see one of these in the spare tire boot of a Shark brought for judging from Belgium to the UK in 1998. The car's build date was the second week of Jan, 1968 and the tire was CAKED in dust with factory original blue protecting the white wall. On the rear side of the tire was a paper-like label with clear plastic overlay containing the DOT identification sequence!

[Dennis M.]

Re: DOT went into effect...

Well based on this info I will look over the Red Lines in the garage. In any case I guess I will be looking for a home for them since my '68 was prior to Jan. 1968 and thus would not have DOT. These tires do have a DOT, so I guess I will have to look to see when they were made.

[Kevin M.]

Re: DOT went into effect...

Jack,

Are you saying it was a non DOT tire that had a label stuck on it instead of embossed? And wouldn't early 68's all have this sticker and a non DOT would be incorrect. I wonder how long that process lasted before the embossed version hit the street.

Kevin

[Kevin M.]

Re: DOT went into effect...

Dennis,

I think that because the car was delivered after Jan 1 the rule would be the tire must contain DOT. Whether it's a sticker or embossed may not come into play. If you determine that they are original 68 redlines I think you should be OK. Now ask about actually driving on them and you'll find out you'll need two sets of tires and rims one for driving and the original one for judging.

Kevin

[Dick W.]

Re: DOT went into effect...

Even though the DOT requirements came into effect 1/1/68, it is not uncommon to see earlier cars with the DOT markings stamped in the sidewall. Dennis, your car could have possibly come with the molded DOT tires, the decal, or (I have never seen one) non DOT tires.

[Dick W.]

Re: '68 Red Line Tires, Original?

Dennis, I hit send before I finished the post. Look in the judging manual and read the section on tires. The tread width, the wording on the sidewall, and the construction differ on the Coker Firestones. What is the serial number on the sidewall? '68 and '69 had a unique coding system.

[Mark D.]

Re: '68 Red Line Tires, Original?

It is very easy to detect the repro tires in the Firestone F70 series. Look at the tread, on the originals there should be 7 tread sections and on the repro's there are only 5. Very early originals were non DOT, but, the majority were DOT stamped.

Regards,

Mark Donnally

[Patrick H.]

Re: DOT went into effect...

Yes, but the DOT code for a 68 would be different than for later years. The appearance of the code and number of digits, if the code is present, would give information too.

Patrick

[Mark D.]

Post the DOT codes from your tires...

and perhaps we can decode them. Also were the DOT codes on both sides? I would only expect to see DOT codes on the back side of a 68 F70.

Regards,

Mark

[Jack H.]

Re: DOT went into effect...

I'm saying it WAS a DOT tire (because of the stick-on label) but it wasn't in the form we're used to seeing (DOT sequence molded into the tire's sidewall). I believe the text of the regulation required all tires "manufactured for sale within the US" bear the DOT traceablity sequence. Hence, what does a mfgr do with WIP (work in progress) before the tooling for the mold insert is up/running but the calendar has changed from 1967 to 1968?

Well, the stick-on label apparently did the trick. And, guess what? That little sucka was still intact from 1968 to 1998!!! BTW, the tire was a Goodyear...

It was kind of a funny sitution because the car owner, a Belgium, had NEVER dropped the spare tire tub and we had to show/help him. Then, once the tub was down and he pulled out the tire, he stated muttering in
German about the filth and looked nervously about for something to clean the tire with!

We had to calmly restrain him and show him how to GO SLOW and wipe the tire gently to preserve its factory originality aspects. Chuck Berge and Vinnie Peters were looking on and one of the Rocky Mtn folks who'd gone over with us was born/raised in Germany and we called on him to do a quick translation....

Once the owner realized the dirt/originalty 'waz goot' and understood what we were looking for, it was PARTY TIME on the judging field!!! It took maybe three translation attempts to explain the US law, the plastic covered paper label, and our excitement to him. But, once all was explained/translated, he offered to buy 'das biers' AFTER judging was complete for the day...

[Joe L.]

Re: '68 Red Line Tires, Original?

Dennis-----

The Coker reproductions are very easy to distinguish from originals. Coker does not reproduce the Firestone Wide Oval tire originally used on Corvettes; they reproduce the Firestone Wide Oval tire which was SIMILAR to the Corvette tire and originally used on other cars besides Corvettes. These tires say "Sup-R-Belt" on the sidewall. That's because the wide ovals used on other cars were mostly of the fiberglass belted design whereas Corvette tires were not. So, all you need do is look for the "Sup-R-Belt" boldly seen on the sidewall.

By the way, the belted tires are MUCH better for driving than the original Corvette non-belted, "2 ply--4 ply rated" construction.

If the tires are original Firestone tires, I would consider them a show-only item. I would NEVER, EVER drive on them. They're way too old for safety.