Anyone want to guess how old this tire is? It's the spare from my '74 Coupe. Kinda cool looking.

 

Hi RD,
Nice Find!
Without the date code it's difficult to guess it's age.
I do notice that it has balance weights on the outside of the wheel. Through at least 72, and I'd think much longer, the weights were only installed on the inside of the wheel to facilitate mounting trim rings.
That could mean this is an original tire from St.Louis and it was re-balanced at some point in it's life or it might be a slightly later tire.
I believe this tire or one similar to it had problems with the steel belts… but I'm not sure if this is the one.
???
Regards,
Alan

 

I don't know how to read date codes, do you know where I could find that info?

 

this link provides information about date codes
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete....jsp?techid=11

 

It says DOT VDUS FM7457. That does not translate in the link above.

 

The original from my 75, had it in the spare tire tub for about 35 years. Kept checking it every so often by lowering it a thumping it with the handle.

Sounded ok to me.

Had no air in it at all, tire was extremely hard.

 

For a second I thought that was the same picture I posted. Maybe mine is original. If so the 1974 air is gone! Sidewalls are soft however.

 

Boy, they don't make air like they did back in '74, that's for sure

 

Hi Richard,
Here is the date code translation for your tire as I see it.
V - Firestone
D- Plant code
U5(not s )- Tire size GR70-15
FM7- Tire Construction Type?
457- 45th week of 1977

The first year corvettes came with the radial tires was 1973. All 73-74's were equipped with the GR70-15. Black walls were standard. White walls and Raised White letters were extra $$$ options in 73-76. In 77 only the raised white letters were optional.
As Alan made mention above these tires had a defect where they would come apart, and were deemed unsafe. They were recalled, and the owners could exchange them for different tires. They were replaced with Firestone 721 Steel Belted of the same size. Check the date code on your rim to see if it is a 74 rim or a 77 rim. The date code is stamped on both sides of the valve core, and sometimes in the center near the lug holes. Take a pic and post it if it is clearly visible for decoding. Please DO NOT USE THIS TIRE on the car. My 73 has its original tire also. ( pictured below). I have most of the air out of it, and I use it for judging purposes only.
Hope this info was useful.
Regards,
Jim

 

Hi Jim,
Yogi Bair brings one of those tires to Carlisle usually.
It has a splintered hole in it you could get your fist through and looks like a bomb went off in it.
The tire appears unused, and the story is that it exploded on the tire dealer's display floor!!!
Nice!
Regards,
Alan

 

That Firestone 500 is very likely an original tire from your car. The Firestone 500 was the OEM tire for 73-76 Corvettes.

As others have said, do not drive on that tire. In fact, I'd be very careful just handling that thing. If it were mine, I'd let all the air out of it. I seem to remember there was someone on the Forum who had an original Firestone 500 spare blow up, just sitting in the spare tire tub.

The 500 was introduced around 1971, and was Firestone's first ever radial tire. Firestone knew by 73, that they had a tread separation problem with the 500, but they went ahead and continued to make them. Around 76, the Government started looking into complaints about the 500, and in 77, Firestone "voluntarily" recalled half a million tires. In 78, Firestone was forced to recall about 7 million 500's (though I have also seen 11 and 14 million mentioned). I don't know that it was ever determined exactly what caused them to fail, though the most common theory was that the adhesive used to bond the belts together would fail, allowing air and moisture to corrode the steel belts.

I got a new Nova as a company car in 75. It came with 500's on it, and I had two of them blow up, with less than 2000 miles on the car. The local Firestone dealer claimed I was driving on them under inflated, and that was why they failed. This was what they told everyone when the tires came apart. That tire dealer had a pile of blown out 500's, behind his shop. I put 4 new Goodyear's on the car, and dumped the 500's on the Firestone store's front step.

I've never owned a set of Firestone's since.

 

I'll check that wheel for a date code. Is there any collector/restorer intrest in something like this? It appears to be in excellent shape(of course I would never drive on it!). I think it looks cool but I wouldn't use it as a real spare so it will probably end up a wall hanger. Does anyone reproduce those tires?

 

I'm sure there is some collector interest in the tire. Not many exist anymore, mainly because those that didn't get recalled, blew up.

The picture below is from a previous post on the Forum, about Firestone 500's. This tire was in the spare tire tub, when the owner heard a load bang, and this is what he found. There's a link to the post, below the photo.

I'd keep it as it is original to your car, but I wouldn't leave any air in it.




https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...-recalled.html

 

My car is modified and will be more so in the future, so I don't need it. I figured I'd pass it on to a restorer who may want it.

 

Hey Alan,
Yeah, I saw it. Bair's are only a couple hours from me here in Pa. Brian and crew are super nice people. He recently did a suspension parts restoration presentation at our Pittsburgh Tri State chapter judging mini meet in March. I'm just holding my breath that my 500 stays together until I get through chapter flight judging on June 11th. I have very little air in it, once judging is over, I'll search for a safe replacement spare. I read some crazy stories about these tires. Some tragic too, there were quite a few tragic accidents that resulted in death, because of the tires coming apart. Scary stuff!
Regards,
Jim:

 

Brian and his dad are both good people. Don't get cornered by Yogi someplace though, because he'll be telling you stories for hours!

I've heard that it was as many as 250 people, that were killed in crashes caused by the Firestone 500's.

That whole deal turned me off to Firestone's for life. I had just gotten my first real job, and was given a company car. Within 24 hours, two of those tires came apart, the first caused me to miss an appointment with a customer, and the second almost caused me to miss a flight to Boston for a meeting. I was lucky because both were rear tires, and the second one blew apart at 70 mph, on a busy interstate, in morning rush hour traffic. Loosing a front tire in that situation, might have had a different result!

 

If I wanted to sell this, what should I ask?

 

From the looks of it the sidewall is damaged so I fail to see how anybody would want it.

 

If the date is good for your car, why not keep it Not inflated.
In the late 70's I had Firestones on my pick-up. One of the tires developed a "thump" and I put the spare on. Later in the day while having coffee with my brother we heard a loud noise and found that the tire exploded laying in the bed of the truck. I remember this story because of the way the Firestone store "took care" of me. They offered a credit off the full retail of a new tire. Their reduced price was more than I actually paid at the local tire shop.
"From the looks of it the sidewall is damaged so I fail to see how anybody would want it."
I believe the tire is not damaged, but deformed from sitting in the carrier.

 

Yes. I don't plan to restore my car; in fact I don't plan to put a new spare in there. It's taking up room in my garage, I figured a restorer might want it for display purposes, not for actual use.