Well, thanks to you all I see there is much more to batteries than I ever thought. I think it may be like motor oils.
Anyway I was reading in another forum where folks were discussing the "best" battery for our year cars, mine is a 57 D code. I too am not sure what someone may mean by "best" ...performance, longevity, or since these cars seems to end up in shows, looks. For me it is the "best" of the combo I can get. Like most, my car is not even close to being a commuter, or even transportation, car; so some performance and longevity issues are diminished a bit. At an average driving of less than 1000 miles a year, I really don't take the car very far at a time. Las Vegas is almost like an island, only surrounding desert vs water. If the event isn't here, it is quite a distance away and I have not ventured for an extended road drive....yet.
I have had an Interstate group 29. Not too hard to get when Firestone sold Interstate. Now not so easy. Especially here. I have a Diehard that I got from Action Auto. Diehards worked well for me when I was in the northwest and I got them at Sears, Now, I don't know. This is my first non-Sears Diehard. And this one was not easy to get either.
I am not the brightest bulb, more like a medieval homemade candle among LED bulbs, but I really liked the look of the group 32 I bought from the Battery Central Mall. It was made by Jim's in Ohio. I have read some pretty negative comments on-line, but I take some of them with a grain of salt as not everyone who comments is trying to help each other out. Recently a new venue was opening here and a local NEWS report showed many online comments, mostly negative about services, broken fixtures, etc, before the place had even opened. It was a pretty interesting story about on-line comments. So, while they can be helpful, I don't use them as the decider.
My previous group 32 from Battery Central, lasted exactly 3 years. Not too unusual for batteries here in Las Vegas. On the other forum, others claim they have had them working well far longer than that. Again, who knows...When I looked in the box it came in, ( I had the Interstate Group 29 in there as a "spare" just in case), I did find instructions for charging every three months which I did not do..I just kept it on a Deltran Battery Tender when parked. It did work flawlessly for 3 years. So, as I noted I am not the brightest bulb, therefore, after giving it some thought, and a whole lot on on-line reading, I decided to give the ultra-pricey, but very good looking, period correct Group 32 another go. I have always been a sucker for a pretty face...and this is by far the best looking, plus it worked great with 1000 cranking amps at 32 degrees and 850 at 0. This time I will follow the instructions, and if it dies "early," well some lessons are a bit expensive to learn. My father is no longer alive to appropriately give a swift corrective well-placed posterior connecting kick, but I'll still get the message without it...just take a little longer to sink in.
The Battery Central site indicated that they expect to send all orders out by April 5th. However, they also caution that they are not in the driver's seat and the manufacturer is, and their timeline is their best estimate. Hopefully, this one will show up just as the one I ordered three years ago did. I think I hear a foot winding up behind me.