Topic: 1968 Original Tires

[Sunlitgold68]

For 1968, 6.95 x 14 size tires, does anyone have a photo?

How wide was the whitewall?.....  certainly not 1 inch like the BF Goodrich Silvertown tire you can get from coker.

[CharlesTurner]

Is that what your Marti report is showing?

[Sunlitgold68]

That's what my father said it came with. My marti report says 6.95 x 14's. Wouldn't these have been firestones? Thanks

[CharlesTurner]

Most likely were Firestone.  Too bad you didn't need E70x14, I have one mint NOS Good Year with white wall.

[Sunlitgold68]

Evidently you can't get a reproduction firestone in that size. What do people use?

Is it possible my car came with no whitewalls? He seemed to think the tires were blackwalls when new.

[CharlesTurner]

Should be noted on the Marti report if the car had white wall or black wall tires.  Also, if you have a build sheet, will be on there also.

[Sunlitgold68]

For judging purposes, would it matter if they were reproduction firestone, BF Goodrich, Goodyears, US Royals? Are all acceptable? Can't find any firestones in that size. Thanks

[CharlesTurner]

On that size tire, I'm not sure what the most common brand was for '68.  Maybe some other folks reading will know better.

[Sunlitgold68]

Are those reproduction tires safe to ride around on? If I drove from oxford to Raleigh, you think they would be ok? Thanks

[CharlesTurner]

The repro are made of better materials than 40 years ago.  The ride would not be as nice as radials, but I would not consider them "unsafe."

[Laurie S.]

I drove on the bias repros on the Pony Trail at the Utah National Show in 2004.  It was about 113 miles and had no problems.  They're still on the car and still look good and drive great.

[Sunlitgold68]

Laurie, they'll be another Sunlit Gold 68 coupe in the MCA Concours driven class in the not so distant future. I actually found a photo of your car that I took at the 2000 National Show near Durham NC.  We're Original Owners too!

I'm leaning toward the US Royals with 5/8" whitewall, they should look good when I'm not running the radials.

[Laurie S.]

Cool, I think there should be a 1968 Sunlit Gold coupe in concours at every National!  Mine is now in Conservator class, so it still shows up. 

[Sunlitgold68]

It can't be that many of them out there, can't see too many people restoring plain jane 68 coupes to a concours level?

Ours has nugget gold interior, I know yours is black inside.

[Laurie S.]

A lot of them were repainted red.