Had my LT1 survivor out for a cruise today.

[Ralph Spears]

You need some Firestone 500 tires for that 73

[njsteve]

Too dangerous to put Firestone 500s on it. You cant drive it then. Heck, you can't even sit the car on them as they tend to explode without warning. I've had three do that - even exploding while not mounted on rims - the steel belts are under tension and they snap internally.

The repro Goodyear Steelgard GR70x15's are correct for 73 Corvettes. They ride nice, too.

This was a zero mile 1973 tire after being on the SD455 Firebird for a week. The car never left the garage - just sat on the set. I opened the garage door one day and saw that the Firebird was sitting at an angle. This was an unused 500 that was actually from the spare tire well of a 73 Corvette prior to my purchase of the tire. Imagine what would have happened if this occurred while driving - especially on a Corvette - you'd lose the fender.

[mockingbird812]

Dems some sweet shots! Looks like BLAST!!!!

[1crossram]

Nice cars and great photography as well. The ones with the wall of graffiti look wonderful.

[firstgenaddict]

There is no way anyone in our family would ever drive on a tire of any such vintage on a public road at this point in our lives, much less in Survivor original paint Corvettes, we didn't drive the cars after they were delivered until I got Rusty on the line and got a set of repro Goodyears on the way.



back to the Black car... WE have a set of Firestone 500's which are set to go on a set of original ralleys.
We are debating using a tube, or perhaps filling with a flexible foam, only for rolling on NCRS or Bloomington show fields. Even though not original Firestones I wouldn't drive it when I flew to upstate NY and looked at it because of the tires(I knew they were maybe late 70's old, My brother works for Firestone and he checked, turns out the nearly new tires were dated 75 and 77, front and rear respectively)
I put it in gear and let out the clutch to the end of the drive, reverse, backed up the drive swerved the steering, everything pretty much worked, when I saw it had the original exhaust head pipes the original exhaust manifold to pipe nuts were still in place, trans has never been out and all of the weatherstripping was devoid of paint overspray...
The owner was a long time NCRS member, restored straight axle cars in the 70's and 80's, bought this car in the late 80's from a fellow Corvette collector, got into Harleys, stored it in a bubble with desicant pouches every winter, brought it home in his heated garage in the spring and then drove the Harleys, wash rinse repeat... year after year. Car accumulated 1000 miles since 1990, he had recently rebuilt the original dated master cylinder, it had the original plug wires on it 2nd Quarter 72, we paid him advertised asking price and felt fortunate to have the opportunity, he told my brother he felt it was going to a the right home... it was probably me refusing to leave his driveway in it and telling him I would appreciate it if he didn't drive it on the road with the tires.

Here are the old Radial T/A's it was wearing...



NCRS has numerous tales of the old Firestone 500's blowing apart in cars and tearing tire tubs apart.
That's where they most commonly lurk on 73-75?76? Corvettes, typically the tires didn't blow out and they were replaced with another tire and the car went on about it's life, and the spare wasn't ever cycled in rotation or changed in sets of 5, the spare lurked like a time bomb.

[njsteve]

Beautiful car! I have never found a reason why GM issued that "No black paint except for Cadillac" rule in 1972 and 73. (Unless you knew how to get around it with a special order fee, of course)

Anyone have any info?

I don't think there is anyway to make one of the hand grenade tires safe for display on the car. As I mentioned, I've had them blow apart while not on a rim (obviously with no air inside). And depending on how severe the belt rupture is, I could still hurt the fender or fenderwell.

Once again, that black 73 looks awesome and the green LT1, too. :-)

[Ralph Spears]

I have 12 Firestone 500 tires in my garage White stripe & White Lettered some still have air in them.

[73RSLTZ]

Thank you everyone.

[firstgenaddict]

Originally Posted by njsteve

Beautiful car! I have never found a reason why GM issued that "No black paint except for Cadillac" rule in 1972 and 73. (Unless you knew how to get around it with a special order fee, of course)

Anyone have any info?

I don't think there is anyway to make one of the hand grenade tires safe for display on the car. As I mentioned, I've had them blow apart while not on a rim (obviously with no air inside). And depending on how severe the belt rupture is, I could still hurt the fender or fenderwell.

Once again, that black 73 looks awesome and the green LT1, too. :-)

They had a no black paint edict on Corvettes from 1970 - 1976 in response to many complaints about the wavy bodies. HOWEVER
I know of (2) 71's with original black paint LT1 coupe and LS5 roadster - (1) 72 base coupe and we know there were (30) 73's in L82 and LS4 one with a red and one with a blue interior. I have seen a 76 L82 in black as well.

If they can come apart without any air pressure or external forces besides 45 year old residual manufacturing stresses THE tires should be in a metal cage.

[Zedder]

I was judging Bow Tie class at the Corvette Museum in 96 or 97...beautiful 1975 Convertible with sub 2,500 miles was going through PV and the owner was cautioned about using the original tires, but did any way. Left rear quarter was busted up pretty bad when the tire blew.