I've been away too long...

It’s been many months and many miles since I’ve regularly visited this site, but here’s my cat with (and son in a cool shirt) showing off some new whitewall tires. My son calls them “old man tires” which seems ok to me. I must be getting old.

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Welcome back! We all miss your creativity!

Welcome back :slight_smile:

Welcome back, and nice tires.

You guys will probably be seeing more of me here in the near future as I’m likely to need some restoration advice. It’s been quite a few years since I’ve done any major work on my poor cat and while daily use here in the great white north has been thoroughly enjoyable, it has not been without cost-- the engine smokes, there’s some body and floor pan rust to deal with, the top has tears and the front suspension is just about shot. First up is a rebuild of the entire front suspension- new control arms and spring perches have been ordered and are on their way. Anyone care to recommend a good spring compressor?

After that, I’ll probably start on some body work ahead of a total repaint, hopefully get that done by early fall. Despite the smoke, the engine still runs well so I’ll leave that for a winter project. I want to get a custom made canvas top to replace the torn vinyl (maybe even change the color to black) but as that’s going to mean spending some $$$ that will probably have to wait until next summer.

I got one of these after using one from KD Tool for the past 35 years. I like it a lot. 1965-1973 Mustang Shelby Boss 302 Coil Spring Compressor | eBay

Welcome back Jody! I like the “old man” tires. I ordered some for my convertible today. I went with 215-70-14 “old man” tires. :smiley:
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Steven

Thanks for the tip, Royce, I’ll definitely check that one out.

Glad to see you going for whitewalls, Steven. I found this set of Goodyear 205/75/14’s on craigslist. The guy had bought a few years back for a 58 Dodge coupe he was restoring, but he never even got them mounted before his son talked him into going with some “younger man” 17 inchers. Got them for $100.

So now I’ve got whitewalls AND a luggage rack. Might be time to rename my car to GeezerCat.

Where can I get those old man tires cheap? Not Coker …I need some 215/65 /15 for my 62 Biscayne. Cheap tires to burn off.

There used to be piles of them available for the taking on Craigslist- or maybe $10-15 a piece back when everybody’s grandma drove a Buick or Olds.
Most used ones now are dried out, unsafe junk. But every now and then you get lucky, like I did. Hemmings (I think) had an interesting article a few years back on the history of whitewalls— how tires went from all white, to all black, to just white sidewalls, and eventually to just white (or red) stripes, then to letters and ultimately to just all black. To me, 14" wheels need either white letters or whitewalls to avoid looking tiny in comparison to the wagon wheels on today’s cars.

West Coast Classic Cougar will loan you that tool for free and here is the video showing you how do use it. Absolutely the best tool on the market for our specific use cases. My kids have been running the tires off my convertible and making some great memories.

Thanks, Don, but unfortunately I pulled the trigger and bought one as soon as I read Royce’s post! :wall: Oh well, you can never have too many tools, right. Btw, your convertible looks great!

My kids both drove mine for the first time this summer. As long as they aren’t BURNING the tires off our convertibles - lol!

I like old man tires too - agree they need to be either raised white letters or whitewalls with factory size wheels or the sidewalls look ridiculously tall.

Good luck on the spring work Yorgle!

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My “old man” tires were delivered yesterday. I really like the look of them. I paid 4 x’s what you paid for your tires.
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I will have to leave the luggage rack to you, but the Geezer-Cat name is awesome! :thumbup:

Steven

Hey, cool 70. I have one in the same color of deep gold metallic and ginger interior.

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