Can’t seem to pull up the correct answer. I see that the Hertz-G’s all came with FR70-14 BF Goodrich radial tires. Some of the old AO Smith pictures show plain black walls, I keep reading wide oval and also whitewall. Which one is correct ? I guess I am thinking about tires and wheels this month……
Chris, looking closely at the top picture, it is clearly a 1967 Cougar, which would have been a test mule. Not a good reference for restoration.
We have an original XR7-G poster in large format, it also shows similar or the same black wall tires, “Radial” in white, and Radir wheels. This pictures shows a different G car, but it is a 1968. Probably also a preproduction show vehicle, not necessarily a final product for production.
Ernie Spragg has collected several sets of original tires for his XR7-G over the years. They are as pictured.
Definitely can’t trust any promotional pictures. The Hertz brochure is probably this car. Pretty much take out the girl and it’s the same picture.
The fender badges and the Marcal fog lights are the same as the poster, but tires are black walls on the poster. It would make sense that it’s the same car though.
BF Goodrich Silvertown FR70-14 that has “RADIAL” in raised white letters are what came on Gs originally. If you zoom in on the factory ad you can not only see them you can see that a photo-retoucher has gone in and highlighted the raised white “RADIAL” letter. This has been discussed previously on this forum. In the Marti report it says Goodyear brand name tires, but the brand actually mounted on the cars was different than what the Marti says. Remember, that like the Shelby Mustangs the Marti is how Ford delivered the cars to Smith. Smith then modified them before they were sold to the public. Don Rush recently had that very original 4 speed G go thru his shop that he did the video of. That car had it’s original spare.
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Phillip
Here is the thread where we came to the conclusion that the tires I pictured above are correct, original XR7-G tires.
- Phillip
Don discusses the tires at 12:22.
- Phillip
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Thanks everyone for your replies.
I watched Don’s video a while back and forgot all about the spare being original. With all the money I’ve been spending at WCCC, I probably paid for the tires that are on his car now 
Since they do not reproduce the original tires, that leaves me with still deciding what tires I should buy. FR70-14 radials are a given. Probably not a white wall. Either a raised white lettering (wide oval) with the letters showing or the blackwall out. Decisions, decisions 
Something I have fantasized about is having a set of the original G “RADIAL” tires created. Apparently there are shops that will shave off any raised markings on modern tires and then put on markings that replicate what was originally there.
- Phillip
The BF Goodrich Silvertown Radials that are offered by Coker Tires in Chatanooga TN is a good option. Coker sells them in 215-14. They have a thin whitewall sidewall treatment.
XR7-G vehicles never came with E70-14 tires despite them appearing on every Marti Report. This is what Ford used after building the car on the assembly line to transport the cars to AO Smith. Smith took those tires off and installed BF Goodrich FR70-14 tires on every XR7-G.
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Any idea what determined whether the G’s got the Silvertown radials in blackwalls, whitewalls, or raised white letters?
I don’t think XR7-G buyers in 1968 could choose which tire they got. Looks like the Gs came only with the raised white letter “RADIALS”.
So far all of the original spares that I am aware of have been this tire.
Here is a closeup of the one and only photo used for advertising. Yes a pre-production prototype was used but one can see that a photo retoucher was instructed to highlight the “RADIAL” lettering on the tire.
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Phillip
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Zoom in on the tires on the article that appeared in the Saturday, April 20, 1968 edition of the Ionia Sentinel-Standard newspaper and you can see the RADIAL letters.
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Phillip
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Every original G that I am aware of received whitewall tires. Only the prototype received black sidewall raised white letters. All tires to my knowledge were BF Goodrich Radial Tires .While we prefer raised white letter tires today in the 1960’s whitewall tires were king.
I’m confused Royce - you appear to be backtracking on a discussion on a previous thread where it was concluded that the raised white letter RADIAL tires are what originally came on XR7-Gs. See my screen captures of the discussion below.
Those tires are what have been found as spares mounted on Rader wheels on very original, unmolested Gs.
They are what are pictured in the vintage Smith newspaper article and they are what are on the G in the Showroom poster and the lone magazine advertisement.
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Phillip
Remarkable how quickly Ford received and replied to that letter.
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Looks like you can buy the letters individually and the adhesive. I am thinking that I might just buy a set of letters and place them on the black wall side of my tires and see what they look like before mounting the tires.