Tire Detective wanted: look at photos and tell me:

[njsteve]

I am trying to figure out what repro F70x14 tires I should have on my 69 Z11. From the thread in the parts wanted section I now know the car should not have the repro Polyglas tires. I have two photos from the original owner. First photo dates from Dec 1970 and shows a "Goodyear" on the sidewall. The second photo was from late 69 (his honeymoon) and shows what looks like a Firestone Wide Oval. The original owner can't recall which tires he bought the car with. I want to buy a set of the repro tires for show purposes but would the Firestone Wide Ovals be correct for 69? Owner #1 bought the car from Chevrolet with 5000 miles on it after it was used for publicity/exec use. Thanks, NJSteve

[njsteve]

Here is photo 2. Honeymoon late 1969. His wife tried parking the car and hit the front fender. Marriage has lasted 35 years so far after that!

[Mark_C]

The picture with the Dent definately has a Firestone Wide Oval on the front right wheel.

The real 69 Pacecars ran on Firestone Wide Ovals, the camaros used as Nascar pacecars of the time ran on Uniroyal tires.

What happened to the rest of the door decal? Did someone only put on the bottom line of it? It never had the complete set becasue the D96 stripe is still on the door. That got buffed off if the dealer installed the door decals.

I've got the polyglas tires on mine. Mainly because I got them cheaper than what a set of wide ovals got for.

[njsteve]

The car had the full set from day one. Per the original owner, the car was used as an early display car at all the dealerships in the Washington DC Zone. (It was delivered to Zone on 03/11/1969 per shipping docs) The orig owner commented that the letters of such bad quality that they would just peel away as he drove and by the end of the year only a portion of the bottom section was still there.

As for the actual #1 and #2 pace cars. I believe that one used Goodyears and the other used Firestone (marketing ploy).

[Jeff H]

In the picture with the dent, the center cap is missing so maybe it was a spare or someone else's wheel on the car. I would think the car originally had the Goodyear Wide Tread tires.

[Charley Lillard]

Here is a 69 Pace Car spare tire.

[Mark_C]

Well heres the only picture I have of a "real" Pace Car that shows the tires. Tough to tell which model, but I think "Goodyear" is legible.

[Jeff Murphy]

I would have to agree with the others that a Goodyear Wide Tread is the way to go if you want showroom correct and don't want to hunt down period Firestones.

The picture of your car with the dent is definitely the later version of a wide tread based on the size of the word Wide and how far around the tire the Wide O Oval stretches.

http://www.yenko.net/attachments/71561-Wide%20Ovals.jpg

See the repro version on my COPO, right picture,which should also have the 1969 version tire which says Wide Oval F70-14 in smaller type, left picture (unfortunately not reproduced). If you want to recreate the car back at the honeymoon period the repro Wide Oval would fit the bill, just don't recreate the dent just for the sake of period correctness! http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[Charley Lillard]

That looks like a actual Pace car. Didn't the 69 actual track cars have JL8 4 wheel disc brakes ? That would have required the 15" Wide Tread GT.

[camarojoe]

Charley, I agree... if you look at that pic of the actual pace car closely, they DO seem to be 15" Wide Tread GTs. It also seems apparent that not all dealers removed the door paint stripe before putting the pace car decals on, and some were just stuck right over top of the factory painted pinstripes. Since the correct Wide Ovals are not reproduced, and the F70-14 Wide Treads are, that should make your tire decision pretty easy.

[Salvatore]

Check with GTO DON, He may have the correct tires for you. Maybe even NOS or slightly used. Sam

[Unreal]

I have what I think is an NOS like the one in the pic on the right. Did any COPO 9737 come with that style tire?
How can I confirm that it's NOS and not reproduction?

[Jeff Murphy]

Not certain but would a 1970 era tire before the DOT stamp?? Anybody? http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/dunno.gif

[njsteve]

Thank you everyone for all the help. I contacted Kelsey Tires this morning and emailed them Charley's photos. I then ordered a set of #114-481-040 Speedway Wide Tread F70x14 RWL tires. According to John Kelsey, they matched the photo exactly. Now I need to find a couple extra rims to have 2 full sets, a street radial set and the show bias ply set. Thanks again