RE: [Chrysler300] tire summary

["C Bilter" <cbilter@xxxxxxxxx>]

Gil and all:

 

Yes, I think we are all in strong agreement on the whitewall width trend,
and the information is of interest to those of us who care about whitewall
widths and their history in general (the rest hit delete now).  I have
researched this a bit in the past, and the change which was industry wide
occurred very quickly (for those days) during 1961.  Some '61 vehicles had
only a "medium" width ww, some still had a wider ww, and by the '62 model
year they were down to 1-1/8" or less.  Wide whitewalls had been shrinking
from "gangster wide" down to about 2-1/2" for over a decade already, but
most attribute the trend to narrow ww (1" or so) having started with the
'57-'58 Cadillac Eldorado Brougham which was factory supplied with a narrow
ww of approx. 1".  As it was an extremely expensive vehicle when new, folks
may have come to associate this new, fashionable, narrow whitewall as more
"upscale."

 

But I think that Tony's original question was, given the trend to narrower
whitewalls that was clearly in play by the 1961 model year, why then would
the 300G have been counter-trend with a wider whitewall than in 1960 and
earlier?  My guess was 1) due to the switch from 14" to 15" wheels/tires;
i.e. the bigger tires tended to have a wider ww width than the smaller tires
and 2) maybe the blue streaks were a low volume tire and hadn't yet been
redesigned.  Goodyear obviously went to the other extreme for '62 with a
1-1/8" whitewall.  But, for 1961, the factory whitewalls on the 300G were
really quite wide and almost look too wide from today's perspective (IMHO).

 

300J-Gly,

Carl

  _____  

From: Edward Mills Antique Tractors [mailto:millserAT@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] 
Sent: Saturday, November 19, 2011 12:00 PM
To: lettercars@xxxxxxx
Cc: cbilter@xxxxxxxxx; chrysler300@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [Chrysler300] tire summary

 

I think you are correct, the 3 sizes of Bluestreaks still in production in
late 1963 were 7.60-15, 8.00-15, and 9.00-14 - all in Narrow Whitewall. 

And from personal experience in the early-60's a Doctor in our town wanted
wide whitewalls for his 1961 Cadillac - probably 1963 or 1964 - cost no
object - but all the 8.20-15 that were available were narrow white - he had
tried Goodyear, BFGoodrich, Firestone, Uniroyal, and a few off brands that
were available locally (Brunswick, Hood, Atlas, etc) - no luck - even with
the premium self-sealing tires. He was a friend of my dad's and was very
unhappy.

On 11/19/2011 10:07 AM, lettercars@xxxxxxx wrote: 

  

Carl and All:
This experience of mine may be of some interest. When I bought my 300C in 
July of 1963, it was equipped with tires (brand unkown) of approximately 
the correct whitewall width, but with considerable wear. When I decided to 
get new ones, either late that year or early the next, I went right to 
Goodyear and ordered four 9.00 X 14 Blue Streaks. I picked them up at the 
Goodyear plant on Jefferson Avenue in Detroit. Even though they were the
proper 
300C size, the whitewall size was the same as current new car 
tires----about 1 1/8" narrow band. Of course, this combination of tire size
and 
whitewall width was never used on a production Blue Streak. So, it appears
that 
Goodyear, and probably the other tire companies as well, produced their 
replacement tires with the same design whitewall currently used on
production 
cars----not worrying too much about the needs of us "old car nuts".
300ly, Gil Cunningham


In a message dated 11/18/2011 12:39:53 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, 
millserat@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:millserat%40bellsouth.net>  writes:

Actually the white wall width was not an individual car issue - though 
there were some unique configurations in the 70's and 80's with triple 
whites and odd widths, but the Tire industry - as dictated mostly by the 
new car stylists changed widths from time to time. Pretty much all cars 
changed from wide to medium and later to about 2.5 inch width at same 
time on OE tires - second lines generally followed a year or so later. 
In 1962, they went from whitewalls extending to rim on inside to what 
was called a "beautyline" whitewall that had a narrow (about 1 inch) 
white separated from rim by a black area. Later they varied slightly - 
generally trending to more narrow until 1971 dual white and then back to 
narrow white and finally blackwall.

On 11/18/2011 11:08 AM, C Bilter wrote:
>
> Hi Tony,
>
> Actually, according to the club website, from 1957 through 1960 the 
letter
> cars all came with 2-1/2" to 2-11/16" whitewalls in a 9.00x14" tire. The
> wider white in '61 probably had to do with switching to the 8.00x15" 
tire.
> The question is valid, however, because in 1961 a 3+" whitewall was 
pretty
> wide for factory issue. The 1961 Imperials, for example, which came with
> 8.20x15" tires actually had a narrower whitewall of perhaps 2-1/2" or so.
> Perhaps it had something to do with availability of tires that could
> accommodate the high speed capabilities of the G.
>
> Carl Bilter
>
> _____
>
> From: Chrysler300@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:Chrysler300%40yahoogroups.com>  
>  <mailto:Chrysler300%40yahoogroups.com>
<mailto:Chrysler300%40yahoogroups.com> 
> [mailto:Chrysler300@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:Chrysler300%40yahoogroups.com>

>  <mailto:Chrysler300%40yahoogroups.com>
<mailto:Chrysler300%40yahoogroups.com>] On
> Behalf Of Anthony Rinaldi
> Sent: Friday, November 18, 2011 10:52 AM
> To: Bob; Chrysler 300 Club
> Subject: Re: [Chrysler300] tire summary
>
> Hi to all,
>
> Any rhyme or reason why they went to 3" WWWs in 1961 from 2" WWWs in 
1960?
>
> Tony Rinaldi
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
> 

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