'48 chrysler windsor

[North Dakota]

We are working on restoring a '48 Chrysler Windsor. We are trying to find the correct tires. I need to know the correct white wall width as well as tire size for this car.

Also, Any leads on restoration info for this vehicle? how about where we can get the upholtery redone etc.

Thanks

North Dakota

[Rick Hoover]

Hello, Maybe I can be of some help.

Your 1948 Windsor came through standard originally with 760X15 size tires. It also had a optional size of 820X15. The brand of tire would have been Goodyear. The white wall width of the 760X15 would have been 3 1/2 inches. The 820X15 tire would have been 4 to 4 1/4 inches depending on the molds used. Here lies the problem. As far as I know at this time, only the Goodyear brand 760X15 is available and it is only being made in a 2 3/4 white wall width, which is to small for your year of vehicle. The Goodyears Collector Series Tires are reproduced / manufactured by John Kelsey of Kelsey Tire in MO. I would recommend that you contact John and ask him what he has available, or coming up in future production runs, of the correct tire you need. You can get all the information at www.kelseytire.com Should the correct Goodyears not be available and you are ready for tires now, then I would recommend going with a Firestone brand 820X15 with a 4 1/4 inch white wall, as there are no 760X 15's being reproduced in Firestone. Those 820's you can buy through Coker Tire or Universal Vintage Tire.

As for your interior, I would recommend contacting someone in your local AACA regions and asking for their opinions on a qualified upholsterer in your area and go from there.

I hope this was of some help. What other restoration info are you in need of?

Rick

[North Dakota]

Wow! thanks for the fast and thorough answer! We had found the tires at Coker but didn't know which one was standard.

For the upholstery. What I was wondering is if there is any place that makes repros of the "seat covers", that they did originally, that I can put on myself? Or door panels that I can install myself. That sort of thing.

For the other info: i know for some vehicles there are restoration books that describe exactly what the car was like as it was produced. So we get all the right chrome, colors etc. I haven't such a book or information for this car as of yet.....

[D Binger]

As as crazy as it may seem, try J. C. Whitney. We got a headliner made for a 61 Dodge Lancer station wagon a couple of years ago. They might have the paterns for seat covers. Good luch.

Dan

[Rick Hoover]

North Dakota,

Another couple places to try for interior panels and seat fabric that come to mind, are SMS Auto Fabrics in OR. at 503-262-3535 and Original Auto Interiors in OH. at 586-727-4286.

If the tire brand name doesn't matter and you want to stick with the standard size 760X15's, then go with the B.F.Goodrich 3 3/8" ww that Coker sells. That tire rides and handles great and the white wall size is right there in the ball park.

I'm not aware of any one book that will cover all your questions regarding your restoration. I'm sure many of your questions could be answered here with the group, or you could look into any of the company's that sell individual manuals and paint chip selections you will find in Hemmings and the like. What color is your car now and what were you thinking of changing it to? You could also look up www.autocolorlibrary.com and see what all colors that were available.

Rick

[Steve Moskowitz]

Hoover, you are a walking encyclopedia! Thanks for taking the time to help out a hobbyist. This is when the site works the best (IMHO)!

[North Dakota]

Thanks! This is a great start. I really apreciate the help. This place is great for those of us who don't do this all the time. Thanks again and I am sure I will have more questions as we go along.

[christianad1156]

Rick/all,

I'm in the same situation as North Dakota in regards to getting tires. I have a 48 Windsor (6 cyl) and am trying to figure out which tires to get.

The owner's manual says 7.60x15 with a tube.

The tires I have on now are P225/75B15 (pretty sure they're tubeless), the spare I have is an H78-15 tubeless. I don't know if any of these are correct.

Q1: I'm not questioning your information, but how do you know what the whitewall size was? I'd like to be able to find my own information rather than bothering everyone everytime I have a question.

Q2: Is there any way to determine I have the stock wheels?

Q3: If I do have stock wheels, do I need to have a tire with a tube? The owner's manual says yes, but I the spare I have is tubeless and I think the other ones are too. I just talked to a tire place and they said to look for a hole in the tire by the stem because somebody could have put a tubeless tire with a tube. They also said to to check for rivets in the bead (I'll won't be able to check until tonight). The other reason why I'm asking this is the owner's manual says that it has a safety bead (or something to that effect), I'm wondering if this could allow for not using a tube.

Thanks in advance.

[Rusty_OToole]

Right after the war whitewalls were impossible to get. Chrysler used white painted, metal trim rings between the hubcap and tire instead. They did not offer whitewalls. I don't know if the whitewall shortage had eased by 1948. But if you really wanted to be correct you would use blackwalls and the white trim rings.

Have a look at these original brochure pictures. Note that even the super deluxe, very expensive Town and Country coupe has the blackwall tires and white trim rings. None of the cars have whitewall tires.

http://www.allpar.com/history/chrysler-years/1945-1948.html

Edited June 10, 2014 by Rusty_OToole (see edit history)

[Rusty_OToole]

Your car came with safety rim wheels and can safely use tubeless tires. Examine the valve stem hole, some have an oval hole that will not fit a tubeless valve. You can still use tubeless tires and you don't have to change the wheels. You can either braze a washer inside the wheel, or use a steel valve that bolts on, one that is meant for truck wheels. They used to make a special valve for these wheels but I don't think you can get them anymore.

[christianad1156]

I feel like I might be on the verge of contributing...

Attached are two pictures from a parts catalog that I got with the car, the cover page is one of the pictures. The other shows all of the different wheel and wheel combinations that came with the different body styles. It appears to me, please correct me if I'm wrong, but there was some sort of option for whitewalls. They're specifically mentioned towards the bottom.

I looked at the brochures and saw what you were talking about. I saw some "vintage" pictures that also showed the same thing. But I also saw whitewalls. Also, my car's covers are stainless steel, not white. The stars that I wrote next to two of the parts listed are what I think I have. It seems like my car came with the white wall option. My serial number starts with 707 which would have given me the 15x5.50 wheels. It would appear that I could have had the covers that were steel painted white but instead I have the stainless steel version which says "for use with white sidewall tires".

Thoughts?

I'm glad to hear that I don't need tubes, I'll have to see how my current wheels are in regard to the stems.

[christianad1156]

So I have these. There are some good threads on trim rings. I'll have to do some research to figure out what my car came with, perhaps a build card or something. I'll search the threads first. For now, it will probably be easier to find the whitewalls versus blackwalls in that size.