[COLOR="DarkRed"]Hi Steve.
IMHO, the main issue isn't so much the date of production of the drums, as the shell type.
Generally, older drums, pre-70's were thin-ply shells with reinforcing rings/thicker bearing edges top and bottom. there are exceptions to this (Gretsch shells and early Pearl/Japanese shells, for example).
When people speak of the "vintage sound" they are most often referring to these sort of shells. Large surface area on the edges and a thin shell means a lot of vibration is transferred from the head to the shell...resulting in what people coin a "woody", "resonant" tone.
Look at the bearing edges of old Ludwigs, Sligerlands, premiers, etc. they are quite broad...a lotta head contact. Rogers was the first mfr. to start sharpening their edges on their thin-shelled kits....it was a spec which was a good 15 years ahead of it's time.
Shells became thicker in the '70's to accommodate heavier hitters, louder music, etc. So you find companies such as Ludwig, Slingerland, even Gretsch start offering up thicker shells, with sharper edges. 5-ply, 6-ply, 7-ply. Then Tama came on the scene with some very good quality thick shells on their mid-higher end kits...mahogany, birch, maple. Pearl followed suit. This narrower edge, as I mentioned before, allowed the head to vibrate more freely, and the thick shell started acting more like a 'megaphone' which amplified the sound as opposed to a 'sponge' which soaked up the vibration and filtered the sound thru the wood. So, in these thicker shelled kits, the sound bounces around inside the shell a lot, thus the resonant head becomes enlivened and very important to tune properly.
(Disclaimer: I am speaking in generalities...there are of course particular exceptions, but these are the general ideas and specifications of older drums).
Now, this isn't to say that loud rock players don't use thin-shelled kits, because they can and do. Nor s it to say that Jazz/Folk players don't use thick-shelled kits, because they do. Head selection and your particular technique comes into play, too.
So, if what you need is a sound with a lotta punch and volume and a fair amount of decay/sustain, probably a thicker-shelled kit is the direction you wanna go. If what you are after is a woody, resonant sound with a slappier sort of attack and a quicker decay, then a thin-shelled kit may be for you.
I know a lotta players who play old '50's-60's kits and hit them hard...structurally speaking, they can take it. It becomes more a question of sound quality and volume (volume altered by the reality of whether the kit is gonna be mic'ed or not, too)...
OK, I'll stop now...[/COLOR]Coffee Break2
