Rather than taking over another thread, I figured this could have its own discussion. I’m no expert on the subject of tires, but I’ve been intrigued by factory / marketing photos of Cougars back in the day with narrow whitewall tires, where the white stripe is further away from the wheel than what we now consider “normal”. I think it’s a cool, unique 60’s look and wanted to figure out what these tires were, and what’s currently available to get a similar look.
First, I’ll start with some original marketing photos to show what I’m talking about.
I’m pretty sure these tires are Firestone “Super Sport” Wide Ovals. It happens that we have one here on display, that was probably an original spare tire.
This style is also a Firestone “Super Sport” Wide Oval variety, and is available in a reproduction from Coker here.
A similar style is available as a radial, for more practical drivability. BFGoodrich Silvertown, repro by Coker here.
That’s it for now, I’ll probably post some more original marketing photos soon, but I’d like to hear from anyone who has either had custom tires made or has gotten some of the available 3/8" whitewall tires. Post pics, of course!
Check this one out (below) - It looks like the white car in the background has both versions of the tire installed. “Far out” on the rear and “inboard” on the front. Convertible in the foreground appears to have the inboard style.
Bill, from an airplane you can still see part of the old pavement from the strip as well as what is left of the timing tower. At least I could when I came out there 6 years ago for the media launch of the BFG Rugged Terrain T/A.
That cardinal red on red '69 Std 428 Cobra Jet w/ Ram Air shot at BeeLine Dragway for the 1969 LM Cougar sales brochure appears to also be the car used in the promo photos in the Detroit Public Library photo thread. What a great looking cat.
From experience, I can say stay away from Coker Tire. Their quality and durability are suspect. Diamondback is far superior and tires can be ordered in any type of whitewall you can dream up.
I did the skinny white walls on my Nordic Bllue 68 XR7 X-code, I used Diamondback to make up the tires for me. They were “made to order” and I used a number of the photos from this post as references for them. I have never figured out how to post pics to this site, but I posted to one of the Facebook pages a while back. I can also email the pics, if anyone wants to see how look on the car.
Chris B. (HarstenePointe) was kind enough to send along a couple pics of his '68 with custom made tires from Diamond Back. I took the liberty of touching them up a little since they were hazy. These tires look awesome, they really nailed the look. He also shared the pricing with me, and the cost was exactly the same as what the Coker BFG Silvertown tires are going for ($229/ea). That’s kinda painful compared to “normal” tires, but potentially worth it for the authentic 60’s look.
I also remembered that Ted T. used the Silvertown tires on his car, which are the more inboard style, but still skinny 3/8" whitewall. They look quite nice and period-correct too.
I agree, considering the cost is the same I’d probably lean towards the Diamondbacks. Both look good though. Here’s one more example of the Silvertown tires on Phil’s (rcode) car. I didn’t make the connection between his forum name and who he is, I had photo’d his car back in 2015 and it looks like he had these tires on back then too. Looking good…
