my corvette has an older AC DELCO battery & i would like to know how old it is. (it died cuz it's been unhooked it for 3 weeks). maybe you can help me out if i give you the following information.
24- 5 yr.
serial # is 072850
other #'s on battery: 475 CCA 90 RC
i believe the battery could have been bought in los angeles, california.
thanks in advance for the info.

 

all the batterys I have seen have the date of wheen they ere mande stamped on them some were near the top

 

thanks keith. i just ran out to the garage and sure enuff, in very small print (get those "cheaters" out to see it), is the date 1995. the 1st owner had the car stored from 1996 to 2003, so i guess it's time to get a new battery. i've heard lots of good things about the optima batteries. any comments from guys that have owned an optima for a few years or more?

 

Time for my battery tirade.

My understanding is that the Optima is one of, if not the, best batteries you can buy. But why do you want an old better battery? I'd rather new ones of good quality. The Optima is about twice the price of a regular battery. Rather than buy 1 Optima, I'll buy 2 Delcos or Interstates over the time I'd own the Optima - about 8 years. Doing it my way, I'll get a new battery every 4 years.

Yes, I'm impressed when somebody tells me that they carefully picked a good name, and then took good care of it, and then it lasted 8 years. That makes a nice story. But I don't want an 8 year old battery in my car. I don't trust it.

I keep my car well tuned so that it starts almost instantly. So the battery is not strained. But if something screws up, I'm going to need that battery's reserve capacity. It won't be there with an old battery. I'd rather replace it often. They're only $50. Hell, most people annually spend $50 on wax and tee shirts for their Corvettes. I'd rather buy battery reserve capacity.

That, plus the Optimas and others are a garish color. Look funny under the hood. I buy good batteries; take off the plastic handle; and, peel off the stickers. Then, all I have is a plain black battery. No colors, nothing to stand out.

All the car batteries in the US are made by only 2 or 3 companies. They're all pretty much the same. The ones with the longer warranties are the higher quality ones. But brand name is not real important. I buy them from my FLAPS because he's a good guy.

 

i hear ya chris. excellent ideas. the thing that interested me when i was talking "optima" batteries with a friend was that you could leave it for months (as a lot of us do during winter) and it would fire up as if it was only 2 days sitting idle.

am i to presume that these 60's corvettes came equipped with ac delco batteries?

 

Diehard works for me, but then 'Old Blue' rarely sits for more than a week.

 

My old cars unfortunately may sit for months (like 6 or 7) at a time between drives, and as long as I leave the battery disconnected, the Optima is always ready to fire the car right up. Other batteries I've had can't handle the long "sit" time.

I guess I'm paying for the convenience of being able to drive the car when I want instead of having to charge it up.

 

I agree with Chris. Put a battery disconnect on it and that takes care of any potenial electrical fires and keeps the battery "up". Add a trickle charger and your'e good to go at any time.