A restoration being displayed.
Absolutely Beautiful!
Nice work!
One of the best GTE colors. Thanks for sharing!
The Marti Report for this Mar 06 built W-code lists “FR70X14 Wide Oval Radial White Sidewall Tires”
The owner has purchased (thru Coker Tire I assume) Firestone Wide Oval raised white letter tires. Is Firestone Wide Oval solid raised white letter the correct tire when Marti lists the tire this way? If it’s the only option, what would the Marti Report state under “Your vehicle was ordered with the following options:” if the GT-E was originally equipped with the solid skinny white sidewall tire?
The original tires would have been skinny whitewalls. The only brand I have seen was BF Goodrich FR70-14 mounted to original untouched wheels. I have seen original Michelin skinny whitewall ER70-14 Radials on 1968 Mustangs. Never seen either tire in the other size.
Firestone never offered a FR70-14 raised white letter tire in 1968. The Coker tire is a fantasy piece made to look like a 1960’s bias ply tire yet offer the quiet performance of a radial tire. There is not any available modern tire that looks like an FR70-14 radial.
50 new pictures have been posted. Engine and engine bay mostly
Royce, this is a Firestone ad from '68… (if i dropped it correctly with my fat fingers on the phone). It seems to show wide ovals. Would like to learn more about what is or isn’t the “best” available tire to use kn s 68 like this. Thank you!
Dang… “board attachment quota has been reached” and it wont post
Create your own gallery and put images there. No limits. You never know how long the links will work otherwise
Any opinions on this BF Goodrich? My 68 GT was ordered with the same FR70-14 tires mentioned above so I’m interested in this discussion.
https://www.cokertire.com/bf-goodrich-silvertown-radial-narrow-whitewall.html
It shows raised white letter Wide Oval bias ply tires. There’s a magazine advertisement for Firestone Supreme Wide Oval radial tires with double white stripe sidewall. And a magazine advertisement showing the Firestone skinny whitewall radial tire which they made but Ford / Mercury never offered. Again no radial Firestone tire with raised white letters.
There is no currently available tire that looks anything like the originals for your GT-E. I think under the circumstance what you have is one of the choices from what’s available.
What does the term “Wide Oval Radial Tires” mean in 1968 Ford-Mercury language?
I always assumed “Wide Oval” was a Firestone term. Possibly even a trademarked phrase.
However, after reading Royce’s explanation that zero Firestone tires were mounted on GT-E’s from the factory, apparently the term Wide Oval could have been a generic term for performance tires such as those with the reduced nominal aspect ratio of 70 from the normal 78.
You are not alone in the confusion caused by Fomoco’s use of various terms. In any case check with Jim Pinkerton regarding which tire would have been possible on a GT-E. It’s a small list.
To shed a little more history on this tire topic, I found this on the GTE.mercurycougarregistry website:
https://gte.mercurycougarregistry.com/performance-features/
Tires and Wheels
According to the dealership Salesman’s Databook, the FR70 x 14 radial-ply WSW tires were standard for the Cougar 7.0 Litre GT-E; and, while red band, or red-line, tires appeared in the brochures and advertisements, they were not available as of 1/1/68; no examples on regular production GT-Es have been verified.
The tire design trend was toward lower and wider cross-section tires. Wider, meant more rubber on the road, and lower section height made the carcass sidewalls stiffer for more effective cornering, high speed stability and response.
Series 70 tires indicated a nominal 0.70 section height-to-width ratio, meaning that the section height was 70% of the tires width. This compared to the 80%-82% for the then current low-section-height (LSH) tire, brought out in 1965.
Two manufacturers supplied new tires for the GT-E package, Firestone with its Super Sports Wide Oval, and Goodyear with its Speedway Wide Tread. B. F. Goodrich was supposed to have supplied tires also, however no known examples of GT-Es so equipped have been verified.
Here’s an ebay listing for a very OLD Good Year Speeday Wide Tread tire.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/G70-14-Goodyear-SPEEDWAY-WIDE-TREAD-GT-RWL-TIRE-/181725621985
And here’s an add for a Firestone Super Sports Wide Oval tire, albeit a replica tire downsized for an ashtray. But, it has the very skinny whitewall which is located well away from the rim flange and placed just above the tire’s equator (the widest region of the tire’s sidewall).
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Firestone-Super-Sports-Wide-Oval-Tire-Ash-Tray-NEW-IN-BOX/264339968836?hash=item3d8be3d344:g:w5YAAOSwCPxc3guY
The Firestone Super Sports Wide Oval, and Goodyear Speedway Wide Tread are both bias ply tires, not radials. There are a number of GT-E’s that were built with those non - radial tires.
3rd installment… power train going in
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=120642306170618&id=100046745476514
Nice. This is the part of restoration that is very rewarding. Take your time and do it right.