Blue Stripe Radiator Hose

[Geoff C.]

[Mike L.]

Re: Blue Stripe Radiator Hose

Geoff, Did they ever have a blue stripe from the factory? I have NOS top radiator hose for a 63-65 FI car purchased by me (over the counter) in the 70's just has the part #. My present FI car was NEVER apart and the hoses just had part #'s.

[Rick A.]

Re: Blue Stripe Radiator Hose

Geoff and Mike - not to belabor the point, but believe New Old Stock would / should only be called that for a given part during the PRODUCTION year of the aforementioned vehicle. So, for a 1963 part to be considered NOS, it should have been manufactured in 1963. If not, then would consider that part a New Old Replacement Stock or NORS. Again, opinions will differ...........just saying.

[Bob J.]

Re: Blue Stripe Radiator Hose

Geoff,
I have some. These were removed in the early 70s.
I'll try to dig one out and post a pic Sunday.
Bob Jorjorian

[Mike L.]

Re: Blue Stripe Radiator Hose

Bob, the picture you are going to post is it a original hose with the blue strips?? Not saying much for myself but I have judged Bowie Tie midyear car's and NEVER saw a blue stripe hose, very curious to see your pictures. And Rick, yes sorry for using the word NOS , I should have known better.

[Edward J.]

Re: Blue Stripe Radiator Hose


Geoff, If you google 63 corvette pilot line photos there is a couple of nice photos of a fuel injection car with the upper hose and no blue strip.

[John D.]

Re: Blue Stripe Radiator Hose

Geoff, My 63 FI car has an original top hose on it. It has a BLUE stripe on it. Alligator hose so it is. John

[John D.]

Re: Blue Stripe Radiator Hose

[Geoff C.]

Re: Blue Stripe Radiator Hose

John is that the actual born with hose ?

Is the stripe printed on top of the GM # etc ? or visa versa -
the GM # was printed on top of the stripe ?

[Mark M.]

Re: Blue Stripe Radiator Hose

Geoff, I looked through many pictures I took at NCRS regionals nationals at Bloomington and car collections of survivor cars and found 5 or 6 cars that probably have their original upper hose. None of them now show a blue stripe but most have remnants of stamps and some stripping but it all looks more white. In Noland Adams vol. 2 page 419, there's a GM black and white photo of a 67 L71 that clearly shows a stripe near radiator end. In 2011 I repaired and traded a number of parts with a gentleman in Detroit for 67 427 cars we where both doing at the time. He was very knowledgeable and had many rare parts including an upper radiator hose he said is an original 67 big block. He noted how rare this is in it's condition and how the strip seemed to be rolled on with what looks like small teeth on the roller. The picture he sent me shows this. Scan0003.pdf

[Geoff C.]

Re: Blue Stripe Radiator Hose

So who was the owner? Maybe I sold him a hose, or even that hose?


Hose stripes in the 60-70 era were offset printed; you could call it roller as several rollers are involved when offset printing liner items – as in long runs of hoses – 75-150’ long. The wrinkles in the curves of the hose prevent the print wheel from reaching into the low spots & depositing ink.

Today it’s laser etched or inkjet – it’s faster. Ink dries in a flash & slight variation in surface height are not a problem.

So why Blue? I guess – only guess - a Blue stripe is associated with Goodyear Rubber. Goodyear Blue Streaks are well known of the 60’s. The recognized vendor ID for Goodyear is AU, which is on many radiator hoses. AY = Firestone, DF = Dayco. Everybody in the rubber business has a code – even the rare rubber made internally in GM owned facilities.

If such is true, I would guess other manufacturers would not mimic the Blue stripe. I have seen 69-72 era 427/454 with a Red stripe, but never interrogated or water boarded those owners – nor noted the manufacturer’s code on the hose.

[Steve B.]

Re: Blue Stripe Radiator Hose

Here is an ultra low mile 67 that I saw at Bloomington a couple of years ago. It has an assembly line hose but the blue stripe was discolored with heat and age.

[Gary S.]

Re: Blue Stripe Radiator Hose

Here are some from my files...Bowtie cars. Last one is definately factory installed....owned by my friend who was the original owner.

[Joe L.]

Re: Blue Stripe Radiator Hose

Geoff and Mike - not to belabor the point, but believe New Old Stock would / should only be called that for a given part during the PRODUCTION year of the aforementioned vehicle. So, for a 1963 part to be considered NOS, it should have been manufactured in 1963. If not, then would consider that part a New Old Replacement Stock or NORS. Again, opinions will differ...........just saying.

Rick------


In the vast majority of cases, there is no way to determine just when any particular part was manufactured. Sometimes, packaging of a SERVICE part might give a clue but it's imperfect (e.g. sometimes parts are manufactured way before the date on a package). So, if "NOS" means only parts that were manufactured during the same period that the car they're going to be used on was manufactured, then there are extremely few "NOS" parts out there and virtually none that could be confirmed as-such.

[Gary C.]

Re: Blue Stripe Radiator Hose

RMA (Rubber Manufacturer Association) assigned a color of thread that was embedded which was used to identify the manufacturer.

Never located a 1950/60's RMA thread color chart. Below is excerpt from a RMA document.

Gary
....

Hose manufacturer identification codes were first published by RMA in 1946 at the request of the Standards Committee of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE). The basic system was developed earlier in response to the initiatives of a Technical Committee on Automotive Rubber sponsored jointly by SAE and the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM).

The original codes for hose were developed as a result of a standard for automotive brake hose published by SAE (see the current edition of SAE J1402; the SAE J1401 and SAE J1403 standards also specify a colored yarn identification code). Note that the SAE J1402 standard is included by reference in certain federal regulations issued by the U.S. Department of Transportation (National
Highway Traffic Safety Administration).

In response to world-wide demand for hose manufacturer identification codes, the current list now includes over 140 different codes. Colored yarn codes are now used in a wide variety of hose products, in addition to automotive brake hose.