What were OEM tires? Photos of any?

[wkarson]

Hi everyone,

Can't help but wonder what the correct OEM tire was. I see some Mark II's w/ wide white walls, some w/ thin white lines, and others somewhere in between those polar opposites.

Anyone here? Yes, I can ck out Coker just like anyone else. That's not the point. I'm hoping one of you can definitively state the OEM tire w/ a picture.

Thank you,

-Ward

[JCB]

Look at some of the original sales literature. They look pretty wide to me.

[Mad Scientist]

The originals were wide. Look at picture at top of this page, that is from the Continental story, a book that came with each new Continental.

[Don Henschel]

According to my dealer invoice mine was ordered with Firestone Deluxe Champion and if memory serves correct 56 was 2 3/4 inches give or take and 57 was 2 1/2 wide. I have the correct size Deluxe Champions on mine right now.

[Pat Marshall]

According to the LCOC Authenticity Manual (Which I am not lending to anyone!) The whitewalls were 3" from 1955 up to October 1956 and 2 3/8' thereafter.

Tires sizes were 8:00 x 15" Non A/C and 8:20 x 15" with A/C.

Domestic tires were 4 ply tubless bias ply, non belted. Export Models were 6 ply tubless bias ply, non belted.

Tires were Firestone unless otherwise DSO'd.

[wkarson]

Folks, you are all amazing. Thank you so much! I'm bidding hard on a Mark II now, and the tires are ~35 years old. So no doubt I'd have to buy new ones if I was fortunate enough to be able to buy this car. (So much for the 'buyers market' thread I read here the other day...yeah right...not a chance. If you have one, there's someone who wants it. Period.)

JCB & Mad Scientist, I thought that pic at the top of the page was from original sales literature, but in Pat's 'color code' thread, I noticed a few different white wall widths, which left me scratching my head. Hence the posting.

Pat & Don, can't thank you enough! Talk about fountains of knowledge. Awesome.

Let's put it this way -- if the gods of beautiful cars smile upon me enough to allow me to buy the one I'm bidding on now, I'll have new Firestone Deluxe Champion rubber on that non-AC car ASAP.

Folks, please allow me to thank you again.

Best,

-Ward

[Pat Marshall]

Ward,

When you can, you can thank me with the VIN. Good luck on your bidding!

Pat

[5219]

My car had what I believe was the original spare. It is a Firestone "Supreme" with a three inch whitewall. The tire, by the way, is a four ply nylon 8.20 X 15.

Mine is an a/c car built in February 1956.

I have never seen another tire marked Firestone Supreme.


Alan Harris
C56D2744

[wkarson]

Hi Alan, does this look familiar to your spare? It's earlier (1952), but is it a close facsimile?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B007IWAXSW

Thank you,

-Ward

[5219]

That sure looks like it!

Alan Harris
C56D2744

[Ralf Nygard]

My car had also a Firestone spare tyre 800-15. It was a
puncture safe tyre which was new to me.I don`t know how
well they worked but I understand it as first there were pressure
on both sides of the half innertyre.When you got a puncture the
air swooshed away from outside of the innertyre which made
the pressure difference close the rubber valve of the innertyre.
So it left some air in the tyre but how much?
The tyre is thrown away so I don`t know if it was a Supreme
but I had to save the inner tyre.

[Don Henschel]

As for the width of the whitewall, at the time I purchased my Firestone Delux Champions the choice of whitewall width was limited. Luckily mine fell within the earlier date and the wider one within the ballpark was available. The narrower one was not. I'm not sure what is available now and was concidering purchasing a 5th one for the spare and having a just in case replacement.

[Ricks]

I have an original, never used, 1957-correct 8.20 2 3/8" Firestone Deluxe Champion "Gum-Dipped" sitting in my inner office. It's my dad's, but if anyone could put it to use (1 tire isn't much good without at least 3 more), I can ask him if he'd be willing to part with it...