72ray

72ray
Casual User
Aug 7, 2018
80
68
Sydney Australia
VetteCoins
2,061
Car
1972 coupe 350 TH400
I’m thinking that my spare tyre (tire) may be the original one from new! Anyone know how to ‘date’ it? It appears to pre-date current codes used to note a tyres date of manufacture. Any thoughts of the value of keeping it aside as a keepsake as it’s a very original, numbers matching car with a lot of records supporting the cars provenance. TIA 👍
 

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I didn't think radials were used back then nor that brand from factory. It is old but not correct for the 72. I did a quick search and came up with this info :

For 1970-72 Corvettes, the same F70-15 bias ply tires from 1968-69 were used as original equipment. The standard tire was a black wall, with an optional white stripe or raised white letters. The redstripe tire was no longer used. All 1970-72 Corvette tires are of nylon cord construction. The correct white stripe tires used during these years were manufactured by the following manufacturers under the following brand names: the Firestone “Super Sport Wide Oval” and the Goodyear “Speedway Wide Tread”. The correct Goodyear tires should not state “Custom Widetread” or “Poly Glass” as these tires are incorrect. The later issued raised white letter tires were manufactured by the following manufacturers under the following brand names and were either the “Goodyear Wide Tread F70-15” or the “Firestone Wide O Oval”. In 1972 only, a U.S. Royal tire was also used with the “Uniroyal Tiger Paw” lettering. The legitimacy of this tire is still being researched since so few original cars with this tire have been found. The Goodyear striped tires have a 5/16” stripe located 1” from the rim, while Firestone striped tires have a 3/8” stripe located 1 7/8” from the rim. In 1971, new Federal Regulations were instituted that required every tire manufacturer to mold into every tire a new TIN (Tire Identification Number) for traceability in case of a safety recall. Introduced in 1973 and continuing through 1977, a new GR70-15 radial tire was used on the Corvette. The standard tire was a black wall, with an optional white stripe or raised white letters. The white stripe option was dropped in 1977. All 1973-77 Corvette tires are of radial cord construction. The correct tires used during 1973-74 were manufactured by only the two following manufac turers under the following brand names, the Firestone “Steel Radial 500” and the Goodyear “Steelguard”. The white lettered tires use a full 1” tall letter and do not use the white outline of a letter. White letter tires were not always available in early 1973 production and the Goodyear white letter tires were not available for two months in the spring of 1973. There was also a recall of the Firestone 500 tire in 1973 and 1974. During the recall, the Firestone 721 or any other Firestone tire of the same size replaced it. The tire manufacturers of the 1975-77 model years are still being investigated although it seems that most Corvettes of this era used the same tire manufacturers as in 1973-74.
 
Basically yes, just a old tire. But it is good for a swap meet someone might want a correct era type tire for display etc. Too bad it is not a GoodYear or Firestone as it would be worth more.
 
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The 255/60 is approx 10" wide x 26.8" high . The old GR 70 you got there if I remember right is about what a 215 / 70 is so approx 8.7" wide x 25.9" high. So the 255 is a bigger tire and I don't know if it will fit in the tub as it was not designed to hold such a big tire. My 82 has factory 255/60's on it but geese, I think I got one of those small tires in the tub for a spare ?? I guess you should try measure and see if the big one will fit in there.
 
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