Cleaned up original spare tire

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72Plymouth

72Plymouth

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I cleaned up the spare. Looks to be the original spare that came with the car??? The date on the tire says 1971 and looks to be almost new.

First I wire brushed the rim and painted it satin black. Then cleaned the tire and whitewall with the bleach white for tires. It also works good on the white letters on tires.

Tire1.jpg


Tire2.jpg
 
That looks great! Is it a radial? I didn't realize radials were stasndard in 1971 but then my dad drove around on the worst tires known to man. (recaps)
 
I agree! It cleaned up nice, but I don't think Michelin radials were available on 72s.
 
Yeah I didn't think so and was stuck wondering. So, I read up on Michelin's history. It said that that in the 70s Michelin decided to make only radial tires. They opened up two new plants in 1971 in Canada. Then said in 1975, the first American built radial came off the line in South Carolina.

The tire says US Patent and Can. Patent and has a couple of numbers. I looked up the patent and it said it was for a radial tire and was filed in 1968 then published in 1972.
 
Ah, who cares? This list of things that aren't original on my car is longer than the list of things that are!! As long as you like it, that is all that matters.

Keep up the good work!
 
That's a good looking spare. I never knew Michelin was an OEM supplier to Mopar in the old days.

Hate to rain on your parade, but tires made before 2000 used only a single digit date code. That could be a 71, 81, or 91 year of manufacturer. Somewhere in the 90s, DOT realized that people were keeping tires on their cars for more than ten years. From 2000 on, the date code went to two digits.

I learned all of this due to a recent experience I had with a great looking spare on my 73. (Photo below) As you can see, the tire had plenty of tread. This baby let go with all the force of a Sprint Cup car blow-out. Chunks of rubber and sparks (from the tread belt flopping around in the fender) went everywhere. The car veered towards the weeds violently. I was going about 65 at the time.

The date code read 3. I concur with the tire tech who junked the tire for me that it was probably made in 1983.

IMG_6533s.JPG
 
BrianT said:
Ah, who cares? This list of things that aren't original on my car is longer than the list of things that are!! As long as you like it, that is all that matters.

Keep up the good work!
Click to expand...

hahaha yup. Just interesting to see what is original on this thing. The seats are original and look awesome still other than a small rip across the drivers seat. The original lady that bought it new took really good care. She had it until around 2000 or so.
 
2 Darts said:
That's a good looking spare. I never knew Michelin was an OEM supplier to Mopar in the old days.

Hate to rain on your parade, but tires made before 2000 used only a single digit date code. That could be a 71, 81, or 91 year of manufacturer. Somewhere in the 90s, DOT realized that people were keeping tires on their cars for more than ten years. From 2000 on, the date code went to two digits.

I learned all of this due to a recent experience I had with a great looking spare on my 73. (Photo below) As you can see, the tire had plenty of tread. This baby let go with all the force of a Sprint Cup car blow-out. Chunks of rubber and sparks (from the tread belt flopping around in the fender) went everywhere. The car veered towards the weeds violently. I was going about 65 at the time.

The date code read 3. I concur with the tire tech who junked the tire for me that it was probably made in 1983.
Click to expand...

o man! thanks for the info, will check into it more
 
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