I’ve still got the ones which were put on in Japan 25 years ago, not the original Bridgestones. Bit browned but otherwise basically OK, if not for normal use.
Are there people with display NAs or equivalent-wheel-size vehicles who buy such things, or is that a new replica situation? Presumably they’d want the proper OEM spec if so?
I’m rather hoping not.
As I understand it (and please correct me if I’m wrong), tyre compound tends to harden as it get’s older, resulting in a decline in grip and I’m guessing durability.
My current NBFL had Toyos on it when I bought it, and despite having plenty of tread, their grip level was truly awful, particularly in the wet. My belief is that it was due to the ageing of the tyres.
So when you talk about 25 year old tyres, my reaction is to think that they should be binned.
I did use the tyres for a short while when I acquired the car as I didn’t realise the age, they were fine. As far as I know it had been mostly in garages since then. Changed them when I did realise, of course.
I’m not really thinking beyond other cars which mostly sit in garages sort of thing.
I wouldn’t dream of putting 25 year old tyres on a car and driving with them on. All natural rubber based compounds perish as a result of ozone and ultraviolet attack. Most rubber items used in critical applications have a shelf life in storage after which they should not be sold. It is now illegal for commercial vehicles such as buses to have tyres older than ten years old as a number of fatal accidents have been put down to old perished tyres that have caused blowouts.
This is from the (American) User Manual for the NC:
No, Toyo’s are terrible in the wet even when new.
The value of an honest-to-goodness-vintage tyre could be if nothing equivalent was still made as it could be used a model for replica copies to be moulded. Not really the case with a 1990s tyre. (An ex-colleague was an Austin 7 enthusiast and told me about a guy who had a coupe of worn out but intact authentic 1930s tyres in a size that was no longer obtainable. He sent them to a Malaysian(?) company who agreed they could mould replicas at an excellent price. He ordered a batch, but was horrified when they arrived and he discovered he had just paid for a load of absolutely perfect replica worn-out tyres.)
A tyre that old shouldn’t be used. I once bought a cheap car which the garage stuck a couple of replacement tyres on before I collected it. After a month or two, I could feel some wobble in the steering. Briefly, they had fitted a 21 year old tyre whose reinforcing was beginning to fail leaving it out-of-round. They’d cheekily mounted the tyre with its date code facing inward.
As to the original question I have read and reread it and I can’t see where the poster was asking for opinions on fitting and driving on 25 year old tyres. If you go to a motor museum you will not find a model T ford sitting on 6 month old pirelli p zeros.
There probably is an argument for value in these tyres for someone who wishes to display a period correct car. The same thing happens for vintage motorcycles.
Yep OP offering for display/show and mentioned not normal use. They could be of value to someone for originally.
I could see the intent of the offer.
Thanks, I was feeling a bit hard done by there. I’m not intending to prompt an example in a road safety textbook.
I think Martin’s expertise covered the answer, I was tickled to have a car sufficiently untouched to still have Japanese tyres on but that’s probably all there is to it. And anybody who was bothered about period authenicity wouldn’t go halfway with condition.
Just curious really.
Yes but have you got the original Japanese air to go in them? 
Not quite the same, but 20+ years ago, I was doing business with China, specifically Quingdao region. A thousand wheelbarrows turned up at the yard in a 40’ container, the wheels had pneumatic tyres and guess what? full of Chinese air 
Barrie