There is some interesting talk in "Vendors & Suppliers - Parts" about period tires. I don't want to hyjack somebody's discussion so I am starting a new one to talk about Firestone Wide Oval tires.
I graduated from college in Jan, 1967 with an accounting degree and an Air Force commission as a second lieutenant thru AFROTC. My duty assignment was northern California. Obviously I needed a new car. I had been doing my homework comparing GTOs, Olds Cutlasses, Chevy Novas and Buick GS400s. I decided that the GS400 was what I wanted. My dad and I went to an Oklahoma City Buick dealer and I bought a demo GS400 with 4000 miles. It came standard with Firestone bias ply Wide Oval tires with red stripes.
This is getting to my main point: the red stripe was molded on the tread side of the sidewall crown (that is the main flex point). By the time I got to Calif, all four tires were cracking open in the red stripe. I took the car to the local Firestone dealer who was amazed that I had gotten almost 7000 miles out of them. He said that most people only get 5000 miles. They replaced all four tires with the current red stripe wide ovals that had the red stripe inside the sidewall crown much nearer to the wheel. They looked entirely different.
Now when I see restored GM muscle cars with red striped tires, I know that they don't look right. If I were a purist, it would bother me.
