For whatever it's worth, my then "new" '62 Herald seemed to be suffering from a
balky/sticky voltage regulator on my way from NY to Minnesota for the 2002 VTR
Convention. As "insurance" for the trip (said insurance turned out not to be
needed during said trip), I stopped at a Walmart in Indiana and grabbed the
cheapest Group 24 battery they had. Around $45 with tax.
That battery is still fine to this day. It spent some months being drained and
recharged and alternated with the car's other battery ("no name"...and also
still fine; age unknown) while I was too distracted and lazy to deal with what
ultimately ended up in a new regulator and a rebuild of the original generator.
Note that this car sits over the Northeastern US winter with NO special
attention given to either battery, although I try to start the Herald once or
twice each winter.
My bottom line: unless you really NEED the "look" of a replica tar top, or
you've added so many lights and electronic accessories that you're towing a
small trailer with a Honda generator on it, you're probably fine with anything
to which the cables will bolt up. I figure that Walmart battery has cost me
about $.04/day; pretty cost-effective. ;-)
>From my experience in recent years, almost any battery you buy today is far,
>far better and more durable than the "equivalent" battery from 40 years ago.
--Andy Mace
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