'68 Red Line Tires, Original?

[Tom R.]

Re: DOT went into effect....when?

Jack:

Doing some research on tires and when the Fed Regs required each tire to be stamped with the TIN or the tire identification number, what I found referred to 1971. So is the 68 reference to only the date code or the entire sequence that is defined by TIN?

[Terry M.]

Re: DOT went into effect....when?

Tom,
The 1968 reference was initially to a paragraph of text that contains the DOT approved wording. I believe that was soon changed to simply the requirement for the letters DOT -- to distinguish racing and industrial tires (I suppose that includes farm-use as well ) from road-use approved tires. When the paragraph of text changed to simply the letters DOT, I don't know for sure, but the original 1969 and 1970 tires I see and own (none for sale) have only the letters DOT. The date and tire ID change to a DOT standard is January 1, 1971, as you found.

[Dennis M.]

Re: '68 Red Line Tires, Original?

Well, I just looked at the tires and Joe hit the nail as usually, there have Super R Belt. By the way yhe DOT stamped on the inside of htese tires is DOT CYU2 F416338 Thank to all that commented on this issue. I certainly have learned alot from everyone.

Save The Wave,
Dennis

[Joe L.]

Re: '68 Red Line Tires, Original?

Dennis-----

One other thing that I should have been clearer on: it's still POSSIBLE that these are original tires rather than reproductions. However, they're definitely not original CORVETTE tires which I assume is what you're interested in.

If they are original tires (for other applications), they might have somewhat greater value to someone seeking tires for those applications. However, the "downside" is that, if they are original tires, they're too old to be usable for driving on, so they'd be "trailer queen" type items only. Plus, for the other applications, the current Coker reproductions are very authentic.

[Tom R.]

Re: DOT went into effect....when?

Can you post or send a tire date code of the period? I'm curious to see how it evolved. I've got a 78 date code format published in the most recent (winter) edition of the Restorer...see "The Bus in the Back:AKA 1978 Yellow Spare Tire rim or something like that.

[Terry M.]

Re: DOT went into effect....when?

1971 to 1999 is the same as mandated by the US Department of Transportation. The wording is several places on the internet. Google, or the like, is your friend. Last time I looked for it I found it in the Canadian DOT regulations. It is the same for Canada as for the USA.
Prior to the beginning of 1971 (and by the way the transition is not quite that neat, but that is another subject for another thread) each manufacturer had their own proprietary date code. As far as I know the only one that has been published is part of the coding system for Goodyear. Bizoco's (I might be spelling his name wrong. I don't have his tome handy.) 1969 book contains part of the Goodyear code.

[Terry M.]

Re: '68 Red Line Tires, Original?

Since the code is 11 characters long, I would guess they were produced after 1971. I believe the earlier proprietary codes are less than 11 characters long, but I can not be certain of that for Firestone since those codes are not available publicly as far as I know. In that case the last three numbers are the date of manufacture -- 338 = 33rd week of 1978, 1988, or 1998. Then the trick is to know if Coker was making those tires in 1978 or not. I know they were making them in 1988.

[Jeffrey S.]

Re: '68 Red Line Tires, Original?

Dennis:
According to the Bizzoco book page 73 the CY designation refers to reproduction tire manufactured by the McCreary Tire and Rubber Co. U2 means F70-15; F41 is an internal coding usage; 6 is the day of the week; 33 is week of the year; 8 is the year (1978 or 1988 or 1998). Hopr this helps.
Jeff

[Dick W.]

Re: '68 Red Line Tires, Original?

Another site to decode tire codes

http://www.harriger.com/tires.htm

[Dennis M.]

Re: '68 Red Line Tires, Original?

Well this has cleared up the puzzle. I guess I will keep on searching or stop by Coker's at Carlisle. Thanks again to everyones input.

Save The Wave,
Dennis

[Mark #28455]

Unless you are married to the Firestones

Get the Goodyear repros from Kelsey tire as they are a much more accurate repro and will lose less points (and cost about the same).
Mark