Are original tires worth anything?

[NoSubstitute]

Hi All -
New to the forum. I just purchased a 1978 "time machine" Mark V from the original owner with 18,860 original miles. The car has the original Michelin 225-15s and are in pretty good shape with minimal weather checking and cracks. I intend to drive this car more than the original owner did and am getting new tires put on next week. Are the originals worth anything? They have a DOT date stamp of 098, which I believe corresponds to the 9th week of 1978, which lines up correctly with the April manufacturing date of the Mark. Should I keep the old tires or just let the tire store dispose of them?

[JimA]

Don't know about the four tires on the ground but have you checked out the spare? My '78 Coupe has the original tire/wheel that has never been used. I like having the original that has never been on the ground and expect it should be worth a little something to someone who's showing for originality.

[Mike]

If there's no cracking and no obvious signs of wear they might be worth something to someone else with a low mileage 78 but it's a pretty slim market for those cars so they wouldn't be worth much.
Do you know for sure they're original? One site says 78 Lincoln still used to the old style size designations.

[action]

Tires over 6 to 10 years from the date code are only good for display. Like museum display. You would not want to drive on them for any distance or at any speed. They will come apart. That is why the tires are date coded. So some one who gets them knows how old they are for replacement.

Would some one buy tires from 1978? I suppose and there is a quote by P T Barnum that might fit.
If I sold tires of that age to anyone they would have to sign a liability waiver stating the tires are only good for display and not actual use.


>>>>>>>Action

[papawayne]

When I replace the tire s on my daily drivers, I wait until the tread will not pass inspection. They look dangerous. When I replace tires on my 63, they look perfect. It is hard to throw away tires that look perfectly good, with hardly any tread wear on them, but they are just as dangerous as the bald ones that come off my daily drivers. Think of it this way:
no daily driver gets tens years out of a set of tires, so it really is big savings. Wayne

[DavidinHartford]

They are only worth something to a collector that has a trailer queen that will never be driven. Otherwise they are only good for hanging on the wall of your garage as wall art.

[CaptainDave]

A thought about date codes: if you go to the supermarket and there are two cans of something, one with an expiration date of next week, the other of next year, you buy that later can. A lot of people talk about tire date codes and how you shouldn't drive on them after 5, 6, 7, 8, 10 years (the number varies depending on who you talk to) but how old is the date already when you first buy the tires? Go to a tire store or call TireRack.com, ask for a price on a certain brand and size, then ask "say, what's the date code on those?" and you'll get blank stares. In short, tire stores want you to throw away your tires when the date code is over X years, but they don't want to be restricted in how old a tire they can sell you. They don't even want to be bothered knowing what it is. An $100 tire manufactured within 6 months of today is an $100 tire. An $100 tire manufactured two years ago is already 2/5ths of the way to replacement (or 2/7ths or whatever) and ought to sell for $80 or whatever the pro-rated remaining life is. But the inattention to this on the front end makes me wonder about the true importance of the back end.

[Mike]

A thought about date codes: if you go to the supermarket and there are two cans of something, one with an expiration date of next week, the other of next year, you buy that later can. A lot of people talk about tire date codes and how you shouldn't drive on them after 5, 6, 7, 8, 10 years (the number varies depending on who you talk to) but how old is the date already when you first buy the tires? Go to a tire store or call TireRack.com, ask for a price on a certain brand and size, then ask "say, what's the date code on those?" and you'll get blank stares. In short, tire stores want you to throw away your tires when the date code is over X years, but they don't want to be restricted in how old a tire they can sell you. They don't even want to be bothered knowing what it is. An $100 tire manufactured within 6 months of today is an $100 tire. An $100 tire manufactured two years ago is already 2/5ths of the way to replacement (or 2/7ths or whatever) and ought to sell for $80 or whatever the pro-rated remaining life is. But the inattention to this on the front end makes me wonder about the true importance of the back end.

TIre rack does pay attention to the date codes. From time to time you'll see tires listed for huge discount like 1/2 price or more noting that the manufacture date was 2 or 3 years ago. It seems to only happen for specific sizes or types so they must be pretty good at not overstocking on stuff that doesn't sell or people buy them up quick when the discounts pop up.

[CaptainDave]

That's true Mike, I have seen Tire Rack heavily discount older tires. But when I called them about current tires a couple months ago they were not able to answer the question and showed little interest in finding out. I finally just rolled the dice with a local shop and lucked out, getting tires this May that were manufactured in September of last year. That was acceptable to me, especially considering that they were an odd size. (These were not for my Lincoln.)

[NoSubstitute]

Thanks for all the responses. I am not planning to drive on them which is why I'm replacing them. I was just wondering if someone who is going to show/compete in a Concours d'Elegance type show, if they were worth anything; doesn't sound like it so I'll let the tire shop dispose of them.

[Stuart M. Cohen]

Dump the spare; you'll end up needing it one day. Take it from me, you will.....

[TonyC]

You can, just as part of a portfolio, snap shots of all your original-original tires before you have them replaced, just so you can look at how the car originally was when you took delivery of it. Can't cost more than what, 5 megabytes? Stash your pictures in a folder on your computer. I have learned to snap shots of Frankenstein with every big job I do, just to thumb through them when I'm feeling nostalgic.

---Tony