Any clue what these are

[SS427]

While Chad and I were going through someones parts for sale today we stumbled upon these. Any idea what the he!! they are???? These are Firestone tires with 16" Firestone wheels. The tires are N50-16. The markings on the side that appear to be weather checking are actually scribbed lines in the sidewall of the tires. The backs of the wheels also say Firestone 16x 3 1/2. Anyone???? I am thinking prototype wheels and tires but for what. Not even the Firestone rep seemed to know. TIA
Rick

[SS427]

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[njsteve]

Mid 60's Buick Riviera?

[olredalert]

Rick,

------These are original wheels and tires for a very early Stutz neo-classic. The ones that used a long nose Grand Prix as a starting point (1969 and up). Im not sure of the first year of manufacture but it was right around 1970/72 and went on into the later 70s. Obviously the idea didnt take off and these became very big paper-weights fairly soon. A bunch of stars like Dean Martin and the rest of the "Rat Pack" owned those Stutzs early on and you see the cars come up for sale at auctions on a regular basis, but I doubt you will see one with these wheels and tires as the whole set-up had to come off when the tires wore out as there were no replacements. The wheels were to narrow to put anything else on so became useless. More often than not the cars then got either wire wheels or those hideous chrome wheels with the fake basket wire front at that point..........Bill S

[SS427]

As usual Bill you were right on the money. That is exactly what they are. The attached site even makes reference to some of the codes on the sidewalls that I saw. I wonder what these things would be worth considering their rarity. Unfortunately, the tires were not in the best of shape. Thanks Bill,
Rick


Stutz examples (http://www.madle.org/ebh69jodpm.htm)

[Belair62]

Those cars have some nice lines to them...wheels are cool.

[nwz28]

There were about 20 of those Stutz Blackhawks at GM Carlisle this year for a reunion. If you didn't walk the grounds, you wouldn't have known. It was the first time I had ever heard of them, but I did recognize that Riviera/Eldorado roofline.

[Keith Tedford]

I saw part a Dream Car Garage episode Friday morning and they showed one of these wheels as being used on some sort of a later Stutz conversion. http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif