I don't know if this has been discussed, but I would like to ask a question. What is the lowest sidewall , whitewall tire made before 1970? I am trying to answer a question a****st some friends and I to figure out how traditional a certain tire is , going by how low profile it is. The question concerns traditionality with late 60's lowrider/kustom rides such as say.....a '66 Impala with Cragars....was there low profile pinner whitewalls around? Any help is appreciated. TIA
I recall a "N50-15" as the big bad tire back then. You can still get them. ProTrac brand is real sticky. http://www.cokertire.com/tire-styles/n50-15-pro-trac-racing-profile.html
Take a read over at http://losboulevardosmessageboard.com/ A mecca of 60's old school lowrider builds. [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][FONT=Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif] How about this thread I hope you win the bet? [/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Tahoma, Arial, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif][/FONT][/FONT]
Thanks guys, I appreciate it. I have been a follower of Los Boulevardos' blog for a couple of years now....love their photos and rides! n50 has to be a 50 series tire right? I will check into that.
Yeah, but the N50 tire is one wide tire...not for a lowrider. More like for a "street-machine"...modified muscle car. And it's certainly not a whitewall tire.
Ricky, thanks for the info......that's important for me to know. I guess I can cross that one out. How about US Royals or others like that? I just saw a pic of a '64 chevy.....this photo was taken in 1969. What series in your opinions do you think that is? 50? 60? http://flic.kr/p/9nbkJC link to a flikr account with photos
Low profile tires as we know them today didn't exist back in the 60s. Pirelli brought out the first low profile tires, the P7, and that was around 1975. They were really exotic stuff back then. Heck, 60 series tires really didn't become mainstream till at least the 80s, and even then they were seen on pretty sporty or high end stuff. So to get back on topic (sorry!) true low profile pinner whitewalls don't exist as far as traditional stuff goes. I'd say the smallest traditional type tire would be a 6.95-14 and those are about as tall as a 205-70R14 but only 175mm wide. 5.60-14s do exist but that's an awfully small tire to hold up a big American car.. they came on stuff like Datsun 2000 roadsters..
Oh, and for low profile.. I remember that some 205-65R15s did exist in whitewalls, it's pretty much an obsolete size these days but there may be something out there available in a whitewall in that size.
Thanks rld, so you remember 65's being around before 1970, am I getting that right? If you check above in a post of mine, there is a short link to a photo from 1969. What size do you guess that tire is?
A buddy in high school had a 1970 1/2 Z /28 that came with F60 and G60 15s stock, so 60 series tires were around in 1971.
Didn't Firestone make a "Wide Oval" tire about then? I think I had a pair on my '66. Knew a cowboy who bought a 4x4 truck and had them put on it and kept getting "hi-centered" until my dad pointed out the advantages of a taller tire in mud! "The Firestone Wide Oval Sup-R-Belt tread design changed the shape of tires for good in the late 1960s. That same famous tread and authentic 2+2 polyester/fibergl*** construction can be found on every Wide Oval produced today. These popular tires are made by Coker Tire in the original Firestone molds utilizing today's modern technology ***uring you quality and authenticity. Muscle car experts and car show judges agree that the Firestone® Wide Oval is the ''correct'' original equipment tire for muscle cars built between 1967 through 1973. Round out your restoration with original Firestone Wide Ovals!" http://www.jegs.com/p/Coker-Tire/Coker-Tire-Firestone-Wide-Oval-Tires/934895/10002/-1
I put a set of F70-15 wide ovals on a '66 Vette for a customer when i worked at Humphrey Chevrolet in 1967... everyone said they would never fit. But they did. 65 series radials weren't even a dream before 1970... new cars didn't come stock with radials until the mid-70's... and they were not 65 series.
My bad. 65s weren't around until, shoot.. If I'm right somewhere around 1981 or so. 60 series tires were around as late as around 1968 or so but not in whitewall sizes, they were super wide tires for muscle cars like Goodyear Wide Ovals. Coker has em on their site if you want to see but none of these wold be appropriate for a low rider. As far as white walls go, 60 and 65 series white walls from an OE standpoint are kind of an oddball thing, by the time regular p***enger cars started using 60 and 65 series tires well into the 90s, white walls were pretty much dead. Come to think of it, with the demise of the town car I'm not sure any new cars are even sold with white walls any more. 65 series tires really were an 80s thing but few standard p***enger sedans used them, it wasn't till the 90s that 60s and 65s were commonplace on everyday cars, IE the kinda cars that would have had white walls from the factory. So yeah, I'm thinking that the 6.95-14 would be about it and that being a mid 60s size it would be about the equal of a 6.50-14 in pre-64 sizing.
THOSE TIRES LOOK "LOW PROFILE" ON OLD LOWRIDERS BECAUSE THEY WERE SMALL TIRES.... (5.20X14'S) OR SOMETIMES (5.60X14'S)..... THEY WERENT LOW PROFILE, THEY WERE TALL AND SKINNY,BUT WHEN YOU STRETCH THEM OUT ON A 14x7 RIM THEY THEN 'LOOK' LIKE A LOW PROFILE! SAME THING WHEN USING A MODERN RADIAL , YOU TAKE A 185/75/14 OR A 195/70(OR 75)15 AND STETCH IT OUT OVER A 14X7 RIM AND IT ****S IT DOWN,GIVING THAT LOOK OF A LOW PROFILE
krooser and 345.....I think you both answered my question very well! thanks! thanks all for your replies, it's a learning process everyday on HAMB.
The Jalopy Journal
