thanks Bill and Rita!

I did get a pair of used tires at this weekends Mopar car show and swap meet to replace the dry rotted old ones on my garage Dodge, and am thrilled that they were paid for by donations by admiring readers who dig what I put on the blog.

I asked the guys at the tire shop what the date code meant, and they said that one of my back tires was from 1996 (image below), and the other was from 2002.

(see the chart below)

 I can't afford new tires for it, and since the last ones were on the car for about 14 years, it makes no sense to buy a set of new ones that are likely to dry rot off, in spite of the cost, before they are ever used up. So used tires were the right cost, to keep the car driveable, without wasting money on tires the aren't likely to be used much... unless I get a better paying job and can drive it more. 10 mpg isn't a daily commuter way of life, but it's a wonderful grocery getter, and car cruise participant on rare occasions that I have some gas money for 100 octane av gas (twice the cost of pump gas).

Then the tire guy got curious how old the tires are that I got at the swap meet, as they feel pretty hard, and says they are 1992s. Shit. They can't mount those and let you drive away.

So... there I am at the tire shop, a pair of tires shot to hell, and a pair of tires made in 1992 they can't mount, and my car on the jacks. No tires.

They tried to get me to buy a pair of tires, 110 apiece, and I almost fell into that trap... but, then, when saying to myself, damn, I wish I had a pair of spares, remembered... the old damn slicks in the garage, and walked back, and got them. Rolled them the 5 blocks to the tire shop, slapped them on the car, gave the tire guys 20 bucks for unmounting, and disposing of the falling apart tires (above example) and drove the car back to the garage, 5 blocks, on slicks.

It's good to have a pair of slicks on cheap rims! 

Someday I hope to get the original engine rebuilt and get back to using pump gas, and pull the 11.5 to 1 compression engine out of the car.

Meanwhile, I was advised by several people to use the tips to help fix some small things on the car, and you just put a terrific tip my way that can pay for a replacement dash panel that the switches are mounted to... some previous owner had installed a nitrous system or something that needed an additional switch drilled into the panel, and I've wanted to get an original looking panel for a long time.

I sure appreciate it!

Thanks!

So far, 18 tips, from March 27 to April 10th, 2 weeks.