anyone know where i can get a set of these rear tires?i've seen ones like them in alot of old lakes pictures.i know some guys made their own with an iron of some sort, anyone know how?
With a tire grooving iron. Circle track guys do it a lot to their tires to adapt to the changing track conditions. Coker has Firestone dirt track tires that are a diamond pattern, that are close, but most likely not what your looking for. Check speedwaymotors.com for a tire grooving iron, or J&R motorsports.
I've looked through Coker and Universal and came up with nothing. I even went on ebay looking for some vintage tires and googled Vintage Kelly tire. It's 18" tire of some sort but perhaps it's an NOS vintage tire that they turned up? The firestone dirt track tires are way wider then those and are not nearly as good looking (no offense to those running the dirt trackers). I think you're next bet would be Excelsior's or 17" & 18 Firestone 7.00's which are great looking tires.
The TRJ article states that the back of Navarro's roadster are 6.00-16 JCPenny Block Style tires. Perhaps they made an 18" as well?
i really don't like the look of the firestone dirt trackers.the tires don't have to be as big as the ones above,i'm running a 16"rim on my roadster.it came with these nos knobby tires but i don't want to destroy them on the street.i figure i'll bust em out a couple times a year.thanks for the info jj.
I was informed by a HAMB member last night that BLOCKLEY tires which are used for Vintage Sports Car racing are available and are rated to 130mph. These things look like they are close and if you are looking to carve the blocks in this would be your easiest starting point.
We used to make our own grooving tools out of a regular putty knife. Just bend it around til you get the shape you want and rivet or bolt it back to itself and sharpen the leading edge. Pulls through rubber easy as hell. You need to sharpen it once in a while. You probably need to heat it up to bend it around.
I've always thought Lakes and Bonneville tires were smooth. I've seen photos with the core thread showing.
Pretty sure those are Firestone Grooved Ascot 7.50-18's I'd love to find a usable set, but have had no luck. The 2 I have are shot.
Yep those are them Carter!!! Beautiful set of tires!!! Even if they're shot I'd make them wall hanger's or put them on something for an indoor show like Jalopyrama.
Here's some more pics of the OP's original car.... N.O.S. vintage Firestone Ascot racing tires are mounted to '38 Ford 18-inch accessory wheels with '38 caps. Side note: If anybody has a '38 Ford Hubcap in good condition that they want to sell I'd be interested.
Those Blockleys are beautiful tyres. I saw them on a vintage racer over here about 2 years ago and looked into getting a set. Main problem I found was the largest size in 16" was 6.00 x 16.
And I'd suspect they are kinda soft, too. Coker's new, harder, Excelsiors are probably a better choice for street driving if you can live with that tread pattern. In the just wondering department, could the style tread you are looking for be some sort of mud or snow tire for trucks that might have been common in the day? Gary
The alternate photo of that car/those tires indicate that they're Firestone Grooved Ascots which apparently nobody is repopping. Back in the day, a lot of the dirt track racers used recaps which were pretty close to that tread. Why don't you check with Hurst? He makes a slick by capping a modern tire then grooves it for the dirt track look.
Here's a pair of 7.00-16" Firestone Ascot square tread tires we found in a crawl space/Michigan basement. Our neighbor was selling their house and we helped clean out the old stuff. They are mounted and holding air. Very nice and soft rubber, but they have some wear.
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