'62 is a good timeline. My landloards '29 Roadster won the AMBR****le in '61 & '63 wearing wide whites- it was the end of the era.
Ditto, what JimA said. 1961 was the last year any new cars came with WWWs In 1962 if you ordered whitewalls on a car you GOT skinny white. By 1960, US Royal (later Uniroyal) had changed it's "Master" tire from a wide white to that beautiful pie cut skinny white that all the "Big Players" put on their cars. (Coker, you're blowin' it, not repoping the 60's US Royal Master!) GMs Motorama Dream cars started sporting skinny whitewalls in 1955, so there was definitely a slow progression from one to the other. I have a "Custom Cars" little pages with a car with skinny whiteson the cover dated January 1959 which means they were available to the public at least as early as 1958. My big brother tried to find some WWWs in 1963 to put on his '53 Chevy and couldn't find a "regular" tire store that carried them anymore, and he couldn't afford special order prices so he put the port-a-walls on, (or what we called M & M whitwalls, for "Mickey Mouse") they lasted about three days because he parked in front of the house and the curb..... So if you are building a '60's style custom or a '62 or newer car, it would have been retrofiting to put WWWs on the car back then. I just looked through the June '63 R & C and all the featured cars with WWs were skinny. The cars in the Winternationals car show coverage were about half and half, but you know car shows, they usually have a lot of cars on the floor that aren't exactly current build. It's your car, if you want WWWs put them on. I worked at the Compton Welfare Office in 1970-72 and this local guy I worked with bought a '61 Olds and first thing he did was put Cragers and WWWs on it, and then got a "Diamond Tuck" upholstery job and took out all the leaves out of the rear springs to lower it. (He usta laugh at my '60 Chevy wagon with the flames painted on the hood with a 4' brush) Then he said it wasn't low enough and he was thinking about taking the main leaf out too. I told him he can't / shouldn't do that because it's the only thing holding the rear end in the car, but he didn't quite understand I guess. Car went left and the rear end went south. Depends on what style of car you're building. If it's a "Bellflower Style" custom I'd put skinny whites on it unless there was nothing on the car newer than 1960. Just thumbing through the Barris customs of the 1950s and there's four cars in it with skinny white, 9and about the same number running black walls) So, what are you building, anyways?
Yeah,'61-63. About when narrow whites became popular.Then red line,blue line ,gold,.Remember Firestone's 3 narrow white stripes ??
[ QUOTE ] Ditto, what JimA said. 1961 was the last year any new cars came with WWWs In 1962 if you ordered whitewalls on a car you GOT skinny white. By 1960, US Royal (later Uniroyal) had changed it's "Master" tire from a wide white to that beautiful pie cut skinny white that all the "Big Players" put on their cars. So if you are building a '60's style custom or a '62 or newer car, it would have been retrofiting to put WWWs on the car back then. So, what are you building, anyways? [/ QUOTE ] DrJ, Thanks! A lot of GREAT information! I am getting to the point where I am going to start concentrating on the cosmetics of the car (interior & exterior) and I want to make sure that I stay on track. I have a 51 Chevy Sport Coupe. The interior is stock except for low back (no headrests) bucket seats up front, a shifter on the floor, and under dash oil pressure & temp gauges and column mounted tach. Will probably be covered in black & white tuck-n-roll. The body is stock; all the chrome is in place, the grill is stock (for now). Car sits about 3 lower than stock, with a very slight rake. It runs on chrome smoothie wheels. No lakes pipes, the exhaust is run out the back. Of course, the engine has been upgraded (V8), and Im running a 4 speed. Here is an older pic of it: http://f1.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/opws666/vwp?.dir=/1951+Chevy&.dnm=car-1.jpg&.view=t
hey Dave, sorry I didnt make it over last night. I have been looking for a new truck and trading in the slomaro. What a freakin hassle. Anyways, Maybe this weekend? I have a flathead meetinf tommorow night and***** on friday. A garage seminar on sat morning and dinner with the inlaws saturday night. The RoadDevils are going to Casa Bonita (puke) sunday to celebrate a few birthdays and whatnot. If you think you might wanna show let me know and I'll let you know when. You could show off the now running car. As far as www man dont do it. Lets jack that thing into the air and put some fender dumps an that bigblock.
[ QUOTE ] As far as www man dont do it. Lets jack that thing into the air and put some fender dumps on that bigblock. [/ QUOTE ] Aaron, Yea, I know, a gasser look would be really cool! I got the clutch adjusted last night; it goes in to reverse now. I still need to mount the front seats; Im still tempted to throw a lawn chair in there & take around the block! Saturday I will be*****oning up my brother-n-laws 350. He got the frame (40 Chevy PU) back from the power coater, so I think I will drop the engine & trans in for him also. Linda & I will probably head back to the Skylark on Saturday night again. I will let you know about `Casa.
Just follow the standard set by the Corvette. Each year has its own style, from wide white to thin white stripe, and then on to gold or red lines, and then nothing at all. I think that that's a good guide for what was popular back in the day.
The Jalopy Journal
