Topic: Tires

[Stangly]

Can anybody point me in the direction of a good place to purchase new tires.  The Marti Report says my car came with 7.35x14 White Sidewall Rayon Tires.  I would love to see a picture of these if anybody has one, or if anybody knows how wide the white wall stripe is.

Thank you,

[Dudley]

My '68 came with the 7.35-14 tires as well, SJ June build, I will look at the spare tire tonight and get back with you tomorrow. I have not seen the 7.35-14 reproduced, only the 6.95-14, but I have not checked availability lately. Firestone Deluxe Champions which came on my car are with a 5/8" WW. I also have a vintage Goodyear Power Cushion that has a 7/8" WW. (In my pictures below, the first one was taken with a flourescent backlight which creates a yellowish glow to create a different tint, the others had only the camera flash and is more natural lighting)

[jwc66k]

Try Coker Tires http://www.cokertire.com/
Jim

[J_Speegle]

Kelsey Hays also provides reproduction tires that are (like others) fairly close to original looking

http://www.kelseytire.com/home.html

Owners a great guy - recently at a show he was was running around cleaning all the tires on the show cars in the lobby for the owners to make sure his produces look the best they could.  That's customer service

[Stangly]

Thanks for the leads guys, I will check these two vendors.

[ChrisV289]

Not to steer (no pun intended) too far off topic but I plan on ordering a set of tires for my 65 SJ FB (Oct 64) for the stock wheels that I got for the 50th anniv show and was wondering what brand originally came on the car or what is eveyrone going with?  Coker has BF Goodrich and US Royal and Kelsey has Goodyear...Also i forget should 65 have the 5/8 or 7/8 white wall?

Thanks,
Chris

[jwc66k]

Not to steer (no pun intended) too far off topic but I plan on ordering a set of tires for my 65 SJ FB (Oct 64) for the stock wheels that I got for the 50th anniv show and was wondering what brand originally came on the car or what is eveyrone going with?  Coker has BF Goodrich and US Royal and Kelsey has Goodyear...Also i forget should 65 have the 5/8 or 7/8 white wall?

Thanks,
Chris

One of the specific type of tires that is single sourced for 64-66 was the dual redline 6.95X14 tires from US Royal. No other manufacturer supplied dual red lines to Ford. Almost all the rest of the tires were Goodrich, Firestone and Goodyear. And be advised that the US Royal dual red lines are not quite the same as the original. There were no factory radial tires in those years as well.
Jim

[ChrisV289]

I'm not looking to do red lines...I am just going to do the white strip as the car is honey gold and think that would look better...Just curious if Goodyear or Goodrich are the best choice....

[CharlesTurner]

Firestone was probably the most common.  If I had to choose between BF Goodrich or Goodyear, I would most likely go Goodyear.

[ChrisV289]

Thanks Charles.  And just to double check it would be 7/8 white stripe as opposed to the 5/8 correct for an early 65...

[CharlesTurner]

It would be the smaller white-wall.

[jwc66k]

Firestone was probably the most common.  If I had to choose between BF Goodrich or Goodyear, I would most likely go Goodyear.

I remember the story way back when, that Harvey Firestone and Henry Ford were good friends and business "associates". The both developed and used assembly line techniques to make their products.
The only blowouts I ever had on any "street" driven car was on a 73 Torino that had factory Firestone tires. One occurred at about 25,000, the other at 27,000. Somewhere in that time period, a bit after I think, Ford dropped Firestone.
Jim

[67gta289]

More than just friends and associates, Henry's grandson William Clay Sr. (current owner of Ford Field and the Detroit Lions) married Harvey Firestone Jr.'s daughter Martha in June of 1947.  However, this was 2 months after Henry Ford's death.

Bridgestone (Japanese company) purchased Firestone Tire and Rubber in 1988.  The Ford Explorer tire controversy, based on Firestone AT variants starting in 1990, culminated with a recall in 2000.  It was in the year 2000 that Ford and Firestone ended their 100 year relationship.  I'm not sure if Ford is still excluding Bridgestone as a supplier now 13 years later.  This is of course much later than 1973.

[ChrisV289]

It would be the smaller white-wall.

Looks like the Goodyears are only available in the 7/8 white wall unless someone else makes them...

[mjd 65]

Since we are on the subject of unusual tire sizes, I wanted to ask if anyone has ever heard of 7.75 x 14 tires being used on a 65 Mustang.  According to Pete's research, my build sheet indicates my late 65 would been equipped with 7.75 x 14 4 ply tires.  I don't see this size listed as an option for the Mustang, although it does appear on Fairlanes and larger Fords.  Also, my car was listed on the buildsheet as an export and display model, although it does not contain any export equipment.