MTFCA Forum

I'm trying to date these Riverside Balloon tires. Any help would be appreciated.
Thank you,
John

Made before the 1960's. In that condition, they might be good for wall art, but not to be driven on. I have not seen any that old. I have one I use for a spare which was made in the 1960's and it looks exactly like the reproductions sold today. That is one of the things I talk about when someone looks at my car. That tire was made in U.S.A. while we were fighting in Viet Nam, but these new ones were made in Viet Nam!
Norm

That tire is way older than you think. Probably the 1920's before they started putting Wards on them. I don't understand why Stan didn't start calling them that again, rather than Ward's Riverside?

John,
According to the internet, and the internet is never wrong, Wards Riverside tires started date marking tires in the 1970's. Tire date stamps have the year of manufacture as the last digit in the code as the last number in the year in a given decade, so a code ending in 7 could be 1977, or 1987, but I don't think Wards Riverside tires were made in the late 1980's so 1977 is likely the date of manufacture for one and 1979 for the other tire pictured, if those are even date codes.

Notice the 30# air pressure recommendation. This tire was intended to ride with the softness of a balloon tire.
Harley did the same around 1926-29. A low pressure semi balloon tire on a clincher rim. That may have worked when the tires were made with an over lapping inner edge. Some of my fellow harley riders have learned the hard way that todays replacement tires will not hold @ the intended lower pressures. Dont try running that low a pressure today, you are sure to roll your tire off the rim.

Hi John. These Riversides were purchased new in 1964 or thereabouts. I believe yours is much older than that. I see that Riverside was making racing tires in the 30s, so they could go back a long way.
Rich

I looked more carefully at my tires today and found a little more info on them. All 4 are different but 3 are Riverside Balloon and one is a Gates Rubber Co. tire that is 30 X 3 1/2.
Picture 1 is a Pat. Date on the tire I posted previously.
Picture 2-5 are of AL83587 tire It says Riverside Oversize Cord I believe. Also has a March 1926 Pat. Date but it is locate close to the rim instead of above the name. Instead of the minimum air pressure not it says the 30 X 3 1/2 can be used in place of the 31 X 4.

Attached are pictures from the Gates Tire and the red tube in the first tire which han no patches on tit anywhere.

Old red rubber innertubes are almost impossible to save (without great effort and expense. They might survive for untold decades inside a tire? But once removed and exposed to air, and even minimal amounts of ozone and other aerial contaminants, even kept in a cool dark place will usually disintegrate within a few months. I even tried to keep a piece of one to use the red rubber to repair an original era windshield wiper for one of my cars. Kept in a cool dark drawer, a couple months later I threw what was left of it away because it had fallen apart so badly.
I think I still have a couple of them, but I can't see them or show them because they are mounted back inside old tires I keep for garage art. That seems to be the only way I have found to keep them intact. Perhaps they could be coated with something to neutralize the contaminants? They need to be aired up to keep their shape and prevent cracking. Maybe in a vacuum chamber?

I do think that really old tires should be preserved just as samples of what was used back in the day. I have several myself. Model T clinchers I try to mount on bad rims with little clincher left. For one I ground off enough of the clincher for the really stiff old tire to slip on. I then then used a spray insulating foam (used for filling walls with insulation through a small hole in the wall). It "inflated" the tire a little bit and stabilized it onto the rim. I have a prewar Western Giant Cord mounted that way, hanging on a wall in my garage. In the dark back corner of my little storage barn are several other very old tires. Most are mounted one way or another on a rim. A few not mounted. In there is a very old, probably similar to yours, Riverside tire. I haven't pulled it out to look at it in a few years. But I want to preserve it for awhile longer.

I believe that standardized DOT tire codes, including 3 digit dating codes, began in 1971. The current 4 digit dating code began in 2000. Old T tires may be too old for a dating code.

Here are a couple of early Riverside ads. 1929 and 1916. Fordfix said "From 1915 until about 1985 Wards made perhaps the best Model T tires in terms of longevity".
I'm not sure how the tread compares with the one you have, John. I think it may be close to '20s or 30s.
Rich

Guys, Thank you for the input. Richard the ads are great. I was thinking Montgomery Wards did not start marketing tires until the 1940's. Those ads kind of shattered that thought. Here is a picture of the tread on 3 of the tires.

Thanks John. That is an older pattern than any I remember. It matches the 1929 Balloon Tier in the ad.
What fun!
Rich