Hot Rods Optima batteries - Good, Bad?

Heck, I didn’t even know you could buy batteries with caps anymore.
Edit: or did you affix the caps yourself?

 

I have used the repop AGM style Mopar batteries for the proper look. Hard to find now, may take one of the dead ones, cut and clean it then place an odyssey AGM inside, modern battery, easy to find, and keep the old look.

 

.

You can buy the cap and sticker kits on EBay to create the look.

 

Besides a few small specialty battery companies almost all batteries are made by a few companies.

Clarios, formerly Johnson Controls, makes Optima batteries in Monterrey Mexico. Exide, the company that owned the factory technically no longer exists. In 2020, Exide filed for bankruptcy and sold off its business in the Americas. A private investment firm purchased nearly all of it and started a new company that also makes batteries.

It seems that Interstate Batteries are made by Duracell, bought by Warren Buffett to escape paying capital gains tax. Good move. They are American made.

East Penn makes a lot of batteries . "A private, family-owned company operating the largest single-site, lead battery manufacturing facility in the world."

I've had a dozen or so Optima batteries. The very first one I bought over 10 years ago is still working fine. The remainder all died within a year.

I wouldn't buy another.

 

Ill take the Optima over an Interstate any day.

 

I have been running a Yellow Top in my Sanford & Son pickup, seem to work fine with a $7.00 Harbor Freight
battery shut off. I think battery tenders kill any battery after extensive use, just my opinion.

 

I'll be stealing this idea

 

I have a traditional looking box and top on the one in my '51. The Optima may be an odd shape, but the spacing of the terminals is such that it looks like a stock Group 2L in my car. If I think of it, I'll snap a picture the next time I'm at the shop. I also have an old repop Ford script battery (reproduction) that I'm going to clean out one of these days (it's not a job I'm looking forward to.)

One thing I do know, after wasting several hundred dollars for reproduction Delco's for a couple of Corvettes and a super low mile el Camino, I'll never go thay way again. One of them didn't last a year. And it turned out that their warranty policies were (ahem!), problematic.

 

Optima makes a good battery, but they are butt ugly. I built one of these for a buddy to hide his in, and I liked it so much I made another for my Olds. She has a battery in the trunk, this one is s stash box.

Fake top, stickers, metal can I welded up and put a lip on the bottom so it used the factory hold down.

Side mount terminal adapters and some old cable ends.

You could easily put an optima, Odessey, or a couple of fifths and solo cups in there. Gets a bit warm but they make ice for that.

Actually, I use it for extra motor oil, funnels, rags, you know...Oldsy stuff.

 

I think I'm convinced. Optima, it is. Thanks for the input, everyone.

 

I like Optima batteries and use them where you can't see them. If the battery has to reside in the engine compartment, I usually bite the bullet and buy conventional batteries. In my experience, Optima is definitely better, however.

I did use the tar topper in one of my cars.
https://www.tartopper.com/product/tar-topper-optima/

 

Yes.....yes. On my old 6 volt tractors and Willys Jeeps.......0 or 00 battery cables solve the overwhelming majority of problems that make some folks switch to 12 volt systems.

 

I admire your dedication Mark, but to me a battery is a battery and a new interstate doesn't look more or less modern than an optima. Now my battery is located in the trunk and it's all covered up, so maybe I'd care more if it were exposed under the hood....

But gluing things to my battery to make it look old is a bridge too far, for me personally. Like a fake quick change rear imho. But again, I admire your dedication.

 

Since others are showing…. A NAPA NF29 Commercial can be made to look like a 56’ original without the $400+ bill. Decal and red caps on E-bay for $8…

 

I totally get this! But in my mind it there is a difference between a fake QC cover or fake hemi heads on a SBC and making sure a firewall or fender mounted battery doesn't distract from the vintage engine bay by disguising it. An optima would look like an ass pimple on Marks firewall, instead your eyes pass over what he has done and you appreciate the engine for what it is.

"Scotomisation" is the psychological tendency in people to see what they want to see and not see what they don't want to see.

 

Since it dove into that pond, yeah Mark, nothing like it. In the purest sense it's almost akin to restoration where we have to "correct" the look of something modern in order to put it into service. Forget show points or the like, when you're looking for the overall you do what you must. A close and dear friend has a proper 53 Corvette battery that he's been offered HUGE $$$$ for, it holds enough charge for a few days to a week and uses it only for judging. The rest of the time he shamlessly uses an Optima. Doesn't want to risk having it rebuilt either. It may disappear for good. Repros used to be like 1200 bucks. He won't let me cast a mold of it Fun topic, lots of angles, and I'm still gonna copy what you did

 

I have had a lot of experience with batteries, almost none of them good. You've probably heard the joke about the two old rednecks where the one guy tells the other that he doesn't use a gun to squirrel hunt, just takes his wife with him and bags his limit every time.
The other redneck asks how thats possible.........
The first redneck replies that his wife is so ugly that when the squirrels gaze down on her they die immediately and fall out of the tree.

Well, I think I can look at a battery and make it go dead too.........cracked many a mirror as well in my day.

Anyway, NOT BEING A CERTIFIED EXPERT on this subject, just a victim....I looked into battery types. From what I can discern, a typical wet cell battery seems to never completely recover once its gone "dead". Now the definition of "dead" does not mean "one or two volts. I hesitate to put any exact number on it, so I'll just say that its a lot closer to 12 (or 6 for 6 volt) than it is to zero. If you keep the battery in a vehicle and drive it regularly.....after recharging it........some seem to do ok. Others seem to die again and again if you don't drive them regularly. Something about sulfate formation within the battery when it goes dead and it seems to stay there.
I learned that there are other batteries that instead of being the "wet cell" common in vehicles are made with glass mats inside (Absorbant Glass Mat)and called AGM. They can function well in start/ignition systems but also work as Deep Cell. That means you can dischage them and still recharge them when a conventional wet cell would be done for. You can apparently do that hundreds of times and they are still OK. I'll attach an ad and you can read about them. You also need to get one of those "smart" chargers off Amazon as the old type chargers can ruin them. The smart chargers are about $80+ for decnt ones.
You will like them.
I have a Great Dane zero turn mower thats 12 years old. I got tired of buying a new battery every year even though I kept a trickle charger on it. Enlarged the battery cavity and bought an AGM for a car and put in it. I'd look at Cosco for an Interstate battery and see if Interstate makes a 6 volt version if it were me.

https://www.batteriesplus.com/blog/power/agm-batteries

 

Easy to find an out of place, place to hide it

 

Buuutttt.... It is a modern battery. Lol. That's like saying I refuse to own a cat and putting a dog mask on it....

Again, I get it, and I get the look you guys are going for, and have admiration for the absolute dedication to be period correct.

 

I am not sure it applies to cats and dogs but these batteries identify as vintage. Hey, don't ask, don't tell.

 

WalMart is close to our place, so when my O.T. convert gave up the battery I simply went over there to get one.
The epithet (name brand) is EVER START. About $90, car is a German 3 letter type. Battery lasted 3 months, practically to the day. No problem, just go back there and pick out another one. So I did.
Twice more! Third time I was livid. No refunds at Walmart, just replacement.
A nice lady in 'returns' had noticed, as we were 'pals'.
She got on the phone, spoke to a king or some such title, and I heard her whisper in a snarl: "This gentleman is a 'Friend of the Company'..."
When she hung up, she winked, went to the cash register and counted out $101.00 and some change... She told me it included interest!
I had never heard of a cash refund for such an article at Walmart.
I told her I wouldn't repeat with a NEVER START. Oh, I meant a(n) EVER START!

 

I had one that lasted 15 years in the Fly. I haven’t replaced it yet,since it’s gonna be a minute before the Fly ever moves again.

 

I didn't like the battery on my '34 PU under the floor hanging under the frame, and the frame was in pretty bad shape. I decided to relocate the battery under the seat. To do that, it had to lay on it's side, so I used the Optima 6V. I've had no problems with it in the last 7 or so years. I would have used a more traditional battery if it was in an area where it could be seen...just my $0.02

 

Used two 6 volt ones in series in my Model A sedan because there was no place else to put a battery using the after market frame. One went bad within the first 3 years real close to being out of warranty, but squeaked by and at $200 each at the time it was not something I could afford to have problems with, so get the correct charger for agm batteries or youll regret it. It was a pain to try to charge if they go below I think it was 10 volts a conventional battery charger wont let it charge, and you have to hook up another good battery in parallel to fool the charger into working. Didnt have a problem after getting the correct charger for that type battery, just hook it up and let it rip.

 

The A PU I just bought has a pair of 6v batteries to make 12 under the seat.
Dad installed them 12 years ago.

They still work surprisingly.
I just started it after 3 years of sitting. They were maintained.
That said it's a bit sluggish and I suspect there marginal at best .

Traditional or not a par of 6 volters can often be hidden or placed were a traditional 12v won't fit .

There expensive. I'm looking at about $500 to replace the pair .

 

I didnt know they made covers and decals for the new batteries, I like that kind of detail. I have fun with little shit like that on Kustom cars. Seeing as its all just for fun anyways if spending extra time to make things look "correct" to your vision gets your rocks off then why not... Im with it !
Of course Im not the guy to bust balls over a regular modern battery either, just pull the stickers off and for Gods sake dont use screw in side post terminals..
To the original question the only Optima I got was second hand from a friends shop and other than being ugly as shit, it held up fine for a few years in my 52, then got passed on to my brother for his project.

 

I had an Optima last 7 years in my daily driver, they've exchanged ownership a few years ago and cannot speak for the current quality.