wide white walls

[Guest REX STALLION]

Now I know what period correct is when it comes to white wall tires on my 64 Riv, BUT I have seen wide whites on other large cars on this vintage.I like the look but was wondering when wide whites went out of vogue. This car will be a mild custom .

[RivNut]

Check Darwin Falk's articles in the Riview about options. In the segment for each year, he breaks down what percent of Rivieras were delivered with blackwall tires and whitewall tires - whitewalls being an option. There are quite a few custom Rivieras out there with "full width" whitewalls, not the "wide white" 1 7/8 whitewalls that were the option in '64. Open Google, click on images, and type Custom Buick Riviera in the search window.

[Guest SwiftBuicks]

What's the difference between full width and wide white? Are any currently available for sale?

[Jim Cannon]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: REX STALLION</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> Now I know what period correct is when it comes to white wall tires on my 64 Riv, BUT I have seen wide whites on other large cars on this vintage.I like the look but was wondering when wide whites went out of vogue. This car will be a mild custom . </div></div>

On daily drivers, wide whites (let's say 2.5-3" whitewalls) faded out of vogue by the late-50s.

For example, they were quite popular on the 1st generation T-birds (1955-57). My dad had them on his '57. He also has them today on his '58 Olds. They look sweet!

My friend Geno has a mild custom '63 Riviera, slightly lowered, pearl white paint, with full wide whites. I really like the look and it gets a lot of attention when we cruise around in it. Here is a photo of it from the side. Click thumbnail for full-size version to see detail. (BTW, this car is for sale; if anyone is interested, contact me off list.)

[RivNut]

In my way of thinking, wide whites are like the ones that came on the 63-65 Rivieras. They're a 1-1/2" to 1-3/4" white wall. There's about a 1" to 1-1/2" section of blackwall between the edge of the rim and the whitewall. Full width white walls are about 3" - 4" wide and go from the rim to the edge of the tread; like there were back in the 50's. In the late 60's and early 70's white walls became narrow; about 1/2" to 3/4"

If you'll check the Coker Tire website, you can see all kinds of whitewall widths. If I remember correctly, one of the last mentioned "wide whites" that looked good on a 1st generation Riviera was a Commander Tire. I have no idea if it's still available and if so, where it can be purchased.

Start looking for pictures of cars with what you think is the look you're after then find out what kind of tires they are.

I seem to remember that this was a thread that was discussed a year or so ago. Try searching the archives and see what pops up.

Ed

[RivNut]

Rex,

Check out American Classics nostalgia white walls, they come in the full width and a 1.6" width. Coker sells them along with a couple of other dealers.

Here's a link for the 1.6" width.

http://www.americanclassictires.com/narrow-whitewall.htm

http:// www.americanclassictires.com is their home page

[Guest SwiftBuicks]

Whatever, I put on the standard whites obtained at a local tire chain store here in Florida. It's good to know what's available.