White wall fits what car?

[pint4]

I have a set of 4 white walls that have a diamond pattern in the center and what looks to be threads on the inside diameter. What car did these fit? Is anyone familiar with them? I am guess ing they are 50's vintage. See photos.

Thanks,

Bob

pint4@new.rr.com

[Marty Roth]

These were called "Porta-Walls".

They were an after-market item to make your blackwall tires look like whitewalls. They could also be moved to your "Next" car, therefore the name "Portable"

When you hit a curb they self-destructed.

Yes, they were popular during the 1950s

Edited July 14, 2010 by Marty Roth
spelling (see edit history)

[pint4]

The porta whitewalls have this deep metal insert that has a diamond pattern embossed all the way around it. How was that secured to the tire?

thanks,

Bob

[Rusty_OToole]

Porta walls did not have the embossed metal part. They only had a moulded in rubber lip that fit between the tire and rim.

Those whitewalls with the built in beauty ring jarred loose a faint memory. I may have seen them on a picture of a 52 Buick. The picture was a Buick publicity shot taken when the car was new. I am not at all positive about this, as it is a faint memory of a picture seen 30 or 40 years ago. But that is my best guess.

If I am right they are a beauty ring/whitewall combination, to be used on cars with the small hubcaps. They press into the wheel and the ribs grip on the wheel.

[Larry Schramm]

I can remember my Dad installing fake / porta walls on the tires on his car when I was young. I do not remember the silver/aluminum on the white walls. The ones that I remember were all white rubber like these from Lucas tires and slipped just under the rim of the tire.

http://ep.yimg.com/ca/I/yhst-73646546942978_2106_2203

[Rusty_OToole]

They are probably an accessory that can be used on any car. Is there any trade mark or numbers on the back ?

[Guest bofusmosby]

My brother used to work for "Western Auto" back in the early 70's, and he sold a lot of these.

[Dave Mellor NJ]

These were also known as "spats" after the shoes popularized by the "Mickey Mouse"and other shows of the 50s

[Dave Henderson]

Porta walls were the poor man's whitewall. After not many miles they ceased snugging up to the tire's sidewall and flared out, looking bad. Except for some metal whitewall discs seen on Chrysler Corp. cars in the '40's (that covered the wheel, not the tire), the concept of "add-on" whitewalls came later. From the best of my recollection, they date from the late '60's to early '70's. (They don't appear in late '50's or early '60's Pep Boys catalogs). Their popularity didn't last long. A rubberized white paint was also available to transform blackwalls.

[Marty Roth]

J. C. Whitney catalog had them in the 50s

[Dave Henderson]

Marty, you are so right, and I stand corrected. There they were for sure in my late '50's Warshawsky catalog. I should have sought a second source of info, it's important when researching, but I had recollections of them from the later era, and I figured that Pep Boys would have to have had them if they were around in the late '50's.

Ok, I wasn't going to admit it, but I had them on a Peugeot 403 in the early '70's. Looked pretty cool until they started flapping around. Some you win, some you lose.

[Marty Roth]

Dave,

A 403 Peugeot was a pretty cool car by any standards. We had a cabriolet like the one in the "Columbo" series, but got more involved with the many Citroen models: DS-21, Pallas, Break (station wagon), 2CV, SM - even swapped some of them with Trimacar for a '27 chevy Roadster and a '17 Franklin 9-A Touring.

When I was in high school in NJ, I was lucky enough to afford re-capped whitewalls, but one of the guys in our group had a '49 Merc with almost new blackwalls - he got a set of Porta-Walls - so-named because the whites were portable, and could be moved from one tire to another -- if you didn't tear them up on a curb.

Thanks for validating my recollection.

Marty