When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Been doing some detective work. According to this .pdf document, the date on the tire is the 25th week of 1972. If someone here could confirm that from their knowledge then we would at least know the tire itself isn't original to the car. However, the spare wheel still could be.
Last edited by 70-442-W30; August 26th, 2016 at 08:23 AM.
Reason: added close up of valve stem area
After looking at the closeup pic I just posted, it appeared there was an additional code that was just to the right of the valve stem, before the "XT." Went out and cleaned it a little and it is 31.
So, according to what I have found online at a Camaro site, it is:
K = Kelsey-Hayes
1 = Romulus, MI wheel plant
9 = calendar year 1969
7 = month - July
31 = day
XT = application code
This wheel has to be original to the car. Let me know your thoughts. Also if there is anyone here who needs this tire, if it is indeed a 1972, please let me know. Read the post previous to this for details.
So, according to what I have found online at a Camaro site, it is:
K = Kelsey-Hayes
1 = Romulus, MI wheel plant
9 = calendar year 1969
7 = month - July
31 = day
XT = application code
This wheel has to be original to the car. Let me know your thoughts. Also if there is anyone here who needs this tire, if it is indeed a 1972, please let me know. Read the post previous to this for details.
Yes, you interpreted the codes correctly. And for what it's worth, the original spare in my October-built W-30's trunk is also date coded 7 31.
July 28 and 30, August 29, and September 4 are also dates I know that XT wheels were made at Kelsey Hayes, so any of these could be considered correct for our cars, too.
I also agree with your interpretation of the tire being manufactured the 25th week of 1972, in Akron plant II. Are you surprised that a W-30 needed new tires 2-1/2 years after initial purchase?
Last edited by BlackGold; August 26th, 2016 at 03:54 PM.
What is up with all the hints of Rally Red poking thru the black paint?
That's what I'm saying...I believe he painted this wheel just like he did under the fenders and the grille. I am getting the tire dismounted soon and I'll post pics of the inside. There should be a little Rallye Red in there too.
The factory painted the plain steel wheels the lower body color, Rallye Red in this case. The previous owner painted them black. [ooops, already answered.]
Yes, you interpreted the codes correctly. And for what it's worth, the original spare in my October-built W-30's trunk is also date coded 7 31.
July 28 and 30, August 29, and September 4 are also dates I know that XT wheels were made at Kelsey Hayes, so any of these could be considered correct for our cars, too.
I also agree with your interpretation of the tire being manufactured the 25th week of 1972, in Akron plant II. Are you surprised that a W-30 needed new tires 2-1/2 years after initial purchase?
Thanks Brian. I would say I'm surprised on the tires...but it was made to race. However, it could have been any tire they had sitting around, so I'm not even sure that Goodyear Polyglas tires were original to the car. I've done my research and found that Firestone Wide Ovals and possibly the Uniroyal Tiger Paws were originally on these cars. Let me know if I'm wrong.
Last edited by 70-442-W30; August 26th, 2016 at 06:25 PM.
The '70 W-30s came with G70x14 wide oval black-walls with raised white letters, made by any of: Goodyear, Firestone, Uniroyal, or Goodrich. The Goodyear Polyglas and Firestone Wide Ovals seem to be the most common, and those are also what's reproduced today.
I've always been a Goodyear man and despised Firestone, so I'm please that my original spare is a Goodyear.
That's what I'm saying...I believe he painted this wheel just like he did under the fenders and the grille. I am getting the tire dismounted soon and I'll post pics of the inside. There should be a little Rallye Red in there too.
I missed that post. I thought you were saying that they came black from the factory....anyway we are on the same page.
I remember there was a thread about this. Seems the general consensus was all cars built before Feb 70 were equipped with Goodyears.
I think it has been generally accepted in a restoration to go with whatever you want from a 70 model year. At least I hope so...cough cough. I've seen plenty of these cars online and there is quite the mix.
Last edited by 70-442-W30; August 27th, 2016 at 01:52 PM.
Reason: wanted to edit to show I was replying to costpenn, forgot to quote
Ok, I had better let you guys in on something. I can't let you know every surprise I have for you...but here goes: (Pic intentionally grainy...full pic revealed on Sept 11 eBay)
I decided to wait on the spare tire. I looked Dallas up online this AM and it showed he was closed weekends. I want him to do it so I'll wait till Monday.
I got some more work on the car done instead. Wash/vacuum/pressure washed the floor mats/got the rear chrome bumper area covered by the trunk lid, and some other interesting things.
Also found out why my father in law had those flaps for the inner fenders on the outside. I tried to push them to the inside like I had seen other cars had them online, but the flaps are way too close to the headers, so I had to put them back. The pass side was resting on the pipe, the driver's side was close. Interesting to learn though.
In addition, I found out I made a mistake. In this post I had the list of options on the car and highlighted the ones the car had. Well I highlighted AK1, the deluxe front and rear lap belts with the front shoulder belts. This car does have all those belts, just not the deluxe. Someone posted a broadcast card yesterday with AK1 and I was comparing to my card and saw how it wasn't there. It got me thinking that I had something wrong and I did.
I found an old thread that described the difference between the two. It said the deluxe has chrome buckles and also one of the belts are wider. So there you have it. Black buckles and all. I need to find a picture of the proper way those shoulder belts go up in the clip. Also need to really clean the rear seatbelts because they have seemingly been down under the seat since their existence.
I think it has been generally accepted in a restoration to go with whatever you want from a 70 model year. At least I hope so...cough cough. I've seen plenty of these cars online and there is quite the mix.
Not trying to create any issues but I don't agree with the above statement. Black painted steel wheels are only correct on black 442s in 1970.
Just because someone did it incorrectly doesn't mean that it is the "correct" std.
Glad to see the body color painted steel wheels back on the car. Are they date coded XTs?
Anyway, they are repro wheels with non-repro caps. I went with the repro wheels because I wasn't sure how well they would turn out since it was my first time painting them. I didn't want to mess up a $300 wheel. Plus, some of those have issues with being older like balance or lug hole issues. Not my area of expertise and I was running short on time. Tires are the Firestone Wide Ovals and they look amazing.
No, I know I post a lot. It is probably partly my fault. I don't hit the quote button sometimes and then it is easy to get mixed up who I am talking to.
The way I looked at the tires was that the new owner wouldn't be using the new XT style wheels and new Wide Oval tires I got for it in a show type environment. They would probably go with the date coded XTs and tires they won't put any miles on eventually. So they would have one complete set for "go" and one complete set they buy for "show." Plus, I still have to put some miles on this when people come for test drives so the tires it leaves with won't be "new" anyway.
I think at this point, I'm supposed to just take a step back and have a feeling of satisfaction. Although not professionally restored, I have put 100s of hours into the car, missing vacations with my wife and kids this summer and even working in the garage until 2 or 3 AM some nights. (Yes, I know part of my time in the car is because I'm not as efficient as you know it alls here.) It has been an amazing ride and I would never trade the experience for anything.
Last edited by 70-442-W30; August 28th, 2016 at 04:33 AM.
Was browsing through my wife's camera and found she took a few additional vintage pics. We had a bunch of photos out on my mother in law's carpet and were both taking pics at the same time. I previously posted the ones from my iPhone.
In this pic, you can definitely see something you might not have noticed before, the reason why the NOS Rallye 350 left and right quarter stripes were in the car when I got it. He wanted to redo the stripes he had bought from the dealer and applied, but he never found the center section. That's too bad because it did make the car look cooler.
And to those who are wondering (I just looked it up online)...the Bicentennial State '76 plate on the car doesn't mean that the plate was 1976. They started making those in 1971. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicl...f_Pennsylvania
I think this is going to be as close as I can get. Older guy at the local body shop pointed me in the right direction. He also said that nothing but a full repaint would make an exact match.
Sorry for the strange orientation to the pic, I was trying to get as much of the car as possible. Had to stand on some boxes. For those wondering, I didn't touch the original paint, but used something on the repainted areas. Any guesses?
Took the wheel to Dallas the tire guy to get the tire off this AM. We knew from before that this wasn't the original spare tire, so I'm thinking this one was mounted right after the repaint of the wheel.
The wheel was not painted with the tire on it, so there is no visible factory Rallye Red overspray on the inside like I was thinking could occur. However, around the valve stem area and from what we saw on the bleed through around the XT lettering, there is no doubt. This is the original spare wheel to this car. Repainting Rallye Red over the next few days. Pic:
I remember there was a thread about this. Seems the general consensus was all cars built before Feb 70 were equipped with Goodyears.
I just read back through the thread I think you were referencing and really found no consensus whatsoever. BlackGold points out in that same thread that although there seem to be no magazine test photos of the cars with Firestones, that the Firestone Wide Oval tire was readily available throughout the 1970 model year. In reading the thread, there really wasn't proof one way or the other regarding the Feb 70 cutoff. Unless you were referencing another thread.
However, you could look at the spare that was in my car when I got it and possibly argue that because it was a Goodyear Polyglas, that the original spare tire on the car was a Goodyear Polyglas. But to have a 25th week of 1972 tire, well that doesn't really prove anything except that it was replaced.
And what about the Uniroyal guys who don't have any factory repro tire? I mean these are all repro anyway, so what is really the difference? That makes them all incorrect (except for the NOS/used tire group.)
I don't know. Hopefully whoever is buying it will at least appreciate the fact that I at least got the 17 inch wheels and tires off of there and put some...well, excuse the term cause I hate this: "period correct" tires on there. But, again, we have no definite proof what tires originally came on this car.
Needing advice on whether or not to package the black wheels and almost new tires with the car (a few hundred miles on them.) Or should I just list them online separately? I think I paid $1100 for them and I assume I will only get half that in a sale.
I don't know. Hopefully whoever is buying it will at least appreciate the fact that I at least got the 17 inch wheels and tires off of there and put some...well, excuse the term cause I hate this: "period correct" tires on there. But, again, we have no definite proof what tires originally came on this car.
FWIW, my D88 came with four Firestone bias ply dual whitewalls on the car and spare when I plucked it out of the barn. Period correct? Probably. Mounted on the 14" Kelsey Haynes steelies. Granted, the 10042 Dynamic 'verts produced in '64 are not the milestone car like the '70 W30 is. I know this because I was a former '70 W30 owner. Period correct is great if you want a show car, a trailer queen, or the all originality quotient. The W30 was built for the track and the strip. Good rubber between driver and the road is what it is all about and tires and rims are anyone's guess.I'd put the correct size steels and some RWL radials and let it go.
Thanks guys. I guess I'll do CL then. Unless anyone here has any interest in them. Let me know.
I'm happy with the Firestone Wide Ovals on the XT style wheels. Took it for a 2 mile ride the other day with them on. Definitely a different feel but I liked it.
Thanks guys. I guess I'll do CL then. Unless anyone here has any interest in them. Let me know.
I'm happy with the Firestone Wide Ovals on the XT style wheels. Took it for a 2 mile ride the other day with them on. Definitely a different feel but I liked it.
I'm working at home today. We should go out and chew up some asphalt. You know, before the car sells.
Hendrick just posted via Hemmings a claimed W-30 with blacked out grille and inner fenders!!! Have an alert sent to my email on the 1970 cars. Check it out!
Hendrick just posted via Hemmings a claimed W-30 with blacked out grille and inner fenders!!! Have an alert sent to my email on the 1970 cars. Check it out!
It was just neat for me to see those things blacked out. I went through all of their pics and didn't see a broadcast card, so that's one big disadvantage. Of course they just put a fixed price on the car and take offers, so who knows what they actually want for it.
Yes, my car will be quite the discount compared to the one they have for sale. Not getting into specifics, but my reserve is going to be set to sell. So everyone be ready because it won't be one of those auctions where there are 200 bids and it never meets reserve. Privately, I've had numerous members input on it and what it is worth and I'll have the reserve set generously less than that. If anyone has further input, I encourage you to PM me your numbers. However, I won't be responding with what the reserve is going to be. I've had a few people ask me that and I can't reveal it.
I really want this car to go to someone from ClassicOldsmobile! That would really be a great ending to this.
The guy in the neighborhood with the early 70's Corvette reminded me of the cruise in tonight. I just didn't feel like taking the car out. He asked me how much I wanted to get out of it and I imagine there would be folks there asking too. Not getting into that.
Got the spare tire/wheel back from Firestone. It looks good. I need to touch up a bit where their mounting machine got it in the center, but that's no problem. It's in the trunk now.
Just wondering, should I actually assemble the whole thing the way it was from the factory, with the jack? The old spare had a nice bump in the back side of the tire because of sitting on the jack all those years.
Also, when I take pictures of the car, should I do it with or without that 70's carpet, or both? I'm surprised the trunk is in such good shape. My wife told me that her dad used to hide their Christmas gifts in there.
Ok, I took the emissions label out of the package here it is: The W-30 script is different than what Fusick shows and also the label has more blank space at the bottom. Also when I lay it on the car where the original was, there it lines up perfect from top to bottom, but has about a half centimeter of residue still to cover from left to right.
Well, you aren't going to believe this, but I was going through the paperwork I had for the car today and flipping through the owner's manual. Look what I found!!!
Ok, no comments on the decal above??? I'm surprised. Especially with the discussion that OP was the incorrect label before. Now we have proof that it was the correct one. A little off on the reproduction label, I might add. No shock there, unfortunately. To those who reproduce these labels: please take some pride in your work. Do everyone a favor and get the dimensions, fonts, text, and spelling exactly correct. The whole repro label thing has me very disappointed. Do it right!
I cleaned up the back and had to stop. I want the car to look like it is gently used, not new. Not finished with the front yet, but close. Here are a few pics I took this AM:
I think there were two styles of 70 W-30 decals. Both said the same thing but both a little different. For the repop decals, how simple is it to reproduce a decal with today's technology... Something that is very silly to not get right.
Wouldn't surprise me if there was a revision along the way. I think BlackGold mentioned something in the assembly manual, but no details on the earlier version, only there was a revision.
August 26th, 2016, 08:19 AM
