First, you mentioned 1958 and that's over 50 years ago. Back then, tires were bias ply tires. They didn't get the type of mileage we see today, so tires were changed out more often. Plus they were crudely built (by today's standards.)
But radial tires - which became mainstream in the late 1970's - have a peculiar failure pattern - a belt leaving belt separation, also known as a tread separation. These separations have been known since the beginning and even 20 years ago, there was a problem (Firestone/Explorer).
What's changed is that the Firestone/Explorer situation brought out the fact that age was a contributing factor. Since our ability to communicate is soooo much better, we now know about these things.
With our ability to communicate comes the ability to recognize inconsistency as well. Again, car mfg 6 years, tire mfg 10 years, that's not even close.
My wife's GM SUV came with Michelin Latitude tires, which showed dry rot when the car was about 18 mos old. Since the car was under a full factory warranty, off to the dealer we went. We were told there is a factory recall for this issue, great, visions of 4 free tires danced in my head. Go to pick up the car, this lot isn't covered by the recall. I went online and sure enough, tires made before, and tires made after ours, were covered, but not ours. That seemed fishy but again, my financial position is not such that I can throw tires away at 8/32", so guess what? We used the tires until about 53k, where they still were 3/32", and we replaced them. Some say oh you love to risk the lives of yours and your families, but I don't. Isn't that a bit dramatic? lol
jmoymmv no matter how modern and profit driven our society becomes, we have to use common sense. Did anyone happen to notice many tires are 9/32 and 10/32 brand spanking new? this was a disaster with Michelin Premier LTX which were 8.5. They could not reach their warranted mileage and all of them got replaced under warranty. Michelin upped the tread to 10/32.
For me it's usually not an issue with cars driven daily and the 6 year thinking. But on my garage queen that's different.
Here's one perspective of the 6 year rule:
When do I need new tires? Do I need new tires? Find the answers to these questions and more on our Help and Support pages. Learn more about your tires today.
www.michelinman.com
Also, I get that this doesn't apply to most on the forum. but did you ever go to Hunts Point or Willets Point or West Philly to get a tire that will just get you by, maybe for a state inspection, and have a budget of $20? Chances are they have whatever size you need. Will they be <=6 years old? Sometimes, mostly not. They may even be a Firestone from an Explorer. This is real life.