Perhaps “buy†is the incorrect term. I purchased a JCPenney lifetime guarantee battery in 1978 and I have been getting free Interstate batteries since that time. My last Interstate battery lasted 10 years and three months.
I decided to dress this one up just like my last one with my custom made individual dry transfer vinyl letters and Delco Capps:
Nice!
Nice work Jon! Clay/Lexi
No wonder JCP went broke.
I used to play that game on the boat with Wallyworld, but they got smart after the 3rd time, when they started selling inferior batteries.
Not so easy now, no one does that. Save your paperwork. You'd think someone would just make a good battery, but they sell on price. The AGM's seem to last/perform the best. Li is still too expensive for the gain in life.
Quote from: fishnjim on February 11, 2021, 09:53:50 AM
No wonder JCP went broke.
I used to play that game on the boat with Wallyworld, but they got smart after the 3rd time, when they started selling inferior batteries.
Not so easy now, no one does that. Save your paperwork. You'd think someone would just make a good battery, but they sell on price. The AGM's seem to last/perform the best. Li is still too expensive for the gain in life.
I don’t think JCPenney went broke on their lifetime batteries. There’s not many people who kept those original cars and were the original purchasers of the batteries as required to maintain the warranty. Fortunately I bought one for the 1958 Cadillac and one each for my 1973 Lincoln in 1978 and still have those two cars.
I have done exactly the same procedure with the Walmart 5 year guarantee battery. Strip off all the red white and blue pink stickon crap, and stick on the DELCO sticker from Ohio. Doesn't pass muster with CadLas judging, which I don't care about at all.
The main difference is this isn’t the little crappy sticker from Ohio but instead individually cut letters to give it a much more real realistic look. Those Ohio stickers are much too small and have a glossy black background with it My letters adhere directly to the front casing of the battery as individual letters with no backing. I don’t have my car judged but just do it for my own satisfaction as it looks era correct
That battery looks great. Where do you get the letters and caps? Thanks
Keep Cruzin,
Bob Kielar
I doubt they lost money on that deal back in the day. You figure how long cars typically lasted and stayed with the same owner, can't have been very many. You got to figure how old a car was before it got an aftermarket battery in the first place that could have been near the end of the first owner so if they bought a lifetime one it didn't matter because they sold it. Maybe the same thing happened to the next owner so they may have sold 3 new batteries before anyone tried to claim one.
What is amazing to me is that with how long those companies have been gone that they have not 'got out of it' somehow. I know a guy that I think has both a Wards and Pennys deal. I think one is muffler and the other may be brakes? One of them I think he said has changed companies a dozen times, he says he gets a letter saying that the warranty is now transferred to so in so. He says he has to bring that letter in to that place because they have never heard of such a thing than several phone calls eventually they figure out they have to replace the thing so then its another few days to find one since they don't stock such things anymore.
I kinda like my crappy little sticker. It looks nice
Quote from: TonyZappone #2624 on February 12, 2021, 12:58:27 PM
I kinda like my crappy little sticker. It looks nice
I've been SCOURING the internet for this "crappy little sticker" and the elusive "Delco" caps for a year and have come up empty handed with all the various search engines (Not an eBay mystery seller sticker, wanting the sticker and caps from the same retailer..). A complete "Delco" hollowed out case, no problem for $80 plus shipping, no thanks. Someone, anyone..., please post a source for the "crappy little sticker" and "Delco" caps as my generic hollowed out battery case looks forlorn minus any Delco jewelry...
Harley, "signart", (I think) a member on this site and more or less a regular contributor makes them. I sent him a detailed photo of my NOS 1950s Caddy battery branding so he could copy & make a sticker. Art is his first name. I am not sure if he does this just for himself and/or for others as well. Think he has other images also for printing. Hopefully you can locate him on the Forum members list under signart, or he sees this post. If you can't find him let me know and I will search my emails. Think I still got his, then I could PM you his contact info to see if he can help you. Just don't want to put it out there in full public view. Clay/Lexi
Edit: Note you have a '59. My NOS battery is from 1959. It is from that which I copied the Delco logo using a high quality camera, with a scale for printing reference. Art said the photo was better than what he normally has to work with. If Art is MIA I could send you the image I took for your '59. You could then take it to a graphics place for printing. Don't have any spare caps though :(
Quote from: lexi on February 12, 2021, 01:30:57 PM
Harley, "signart", (I think) a member on this site and more or less a regular contributor makes them. I sent him a detailed photo of my NOS 1950s Caddy battery branding so he could copy & make a sticker. Art is his first name. I am not sure if he does this just for himself and/or for others as well. Think he has other images also for printing. Hopefully you can locate him on the Forum members list under signart, or he sees this post. If you can't find him let me know and I will search my emails. Think I still got his, then I could PM you his contact info to see if he can help you. Just don't want to put it out there in full public view. Clay/Lexi
Edit: Note you have a '59. My NOS battery is from 1959. It is from that which I copied the Delco logo using a high quality camera, with a scale for printing reference. Art said the photo was better than what he normally has to work with. If Art is MIA I could send you the image I took for your '59. You could then take it to a graphics place for printing. Don't have any spare caps though :(
Many thanks, I'll PM him later for the sticker info. This will be for the '50, the '59 is far down the road these days.
Quote from: TonyZappone #2624 on February 12, 2021, 12:58:27 PM
I kinda like my crappy little sticker. It looks nice
Tony - I wasn’t picking on it but I think having individual letters looks much more realistic and better replicates how the battery originally was.
Here’s the little sticker and the nice caps:
https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F313049749118
I was just joshing. The source of these stickers is the big battery dealer from Ohio. The ownership has just changed, and I am not sure of the new name. Someone on this forum will know the name.
My friend in Belgium sent me this prototype of a raised letter front to stick on the battery to emulate the 1950s batteries. I think it looks very good
Quote from: Jon S on February 12, 2021, 08:52:00 AM
The main difference is this isn’t the little crappy sticker from Ohio but instead individually cut letters to give it a much more real realistic look. Those Ohio stickers are much too small and have a glossy black background with it My letters adhere directly to the front casing of the battery as individual letters with no backing. I don’t have my car judged but just do it for my own satisfaction as it looks era correct
That would explain why the small letters aren't straight.
I just get new ACDelco batts They used to have 60 month free replacement. Now it's down to 42 months.
There are no more lifetime batts that I know of. Even if there were, there is undoubtedly fine print that states one or two replacements is the limit. I've actually seen that on some fine print on automotive items.