White wall width 1947 clipper custom Super Clipper
Posted by Rscott77x On 2017/3/3 19:02:17
Rscott77x wrote:
Howard,
What is the correct width of the whitewall for the 1947 2106? I am about to spring for a set and may as well get the correct one.
Also, is it feasible to just buy 4 tires and keep the bias spare for emergencies? Or, should I bite the bullet and buy 5. Of course, the tires will rot before ever getting any mileage on them, so I am not worrying about rotations.
Thanks.
Robert
Re: Correct whitewall tire width
I wish I knew but the precise dimension of the old whitewall portion seems to be elusive. I don't know if it differed between tire mfgs or was specific to a size but you do see a bit of variation in old photos. Unless someone at the tire company has an old catalog and suggestion or someone still has an original tire to measure I think it will be best guess. All I can suggest at the moment is to compare a 21st series sales brochure photo such as some shown in this 46 offeringhttps://www.packardinfo.com/xoops/html/downloads/1946_SuperClipper_Brochure.pdf to the tire you are considering and see how they match. To me it looks as if the whitewall covers just over half the width of the sidewall and whatever width that works out to is what I would be thinking of.
If you are buying radials I think I would splurge for the 5th. If staying with bias then 4 and hope the spare never gets used if it is old rubber. While I don't know the exact reasoning it seems to be an absolute and definite NO to run a bias tire with radials. I would take that to mean the handling suffers in some fashion but whether it is bad enough to worry about with just a spare is a question.
COMMENT FROM su8overdrive
NO 1946 cars regardless of make, model, price, were delivered with whitewalls, and only a v e r y few 1947s were during the final few weeks of the model year.
So whitewalls on 1946-47 cars are historically incorrect. In the day, most wealthy folks eschewed whitewalls as gauche, tacky. You rarely saw them on R-R, Bentley, Delage, Lagonda, Delahaye, Bugatti.
They're largely a Detroit conceit. With a restrained, refreshingly understated design like a Clipper, less is more. A friend runs blackwalls on his black '40 180 Darrin with black top, gray interior, only the base bail hood ornament, and you really see the car. See my '47 senior Clipper on the Owner Registry here (su8overdrive, Walnut Creek).
In a sea of old cars with "gotta have" whitewalls, your car will stand out, especially given its extrovert color.
Too much ego, vanity among clubbies and otherwise well-meaning sites like this, as with "100-point" 1946-47 cars at CCCA Grand Classics and Packard Club events with whitewalls and gloss black (instead of matte or semi-gloss) engine accessories.
I've mentioned all this too many times on the forums to bother again trying to counter vanity, revisionist history with authenticity.
If you can't find a set of Bridgetone R230 LT radials in our 7.00 x 15 bias ply size, pick up a set of the identical spec Yokohama RY215 -- which is what Diamond Back vulcanizes a whitewall on for the downhome hobby krowd.
Michelin produced an identical spec 7.00 x 15 bias sized radial until the early aughts, now Bridgestone (a Japanese company) has apparently stopped producing the R230, leaving only Yokohama (a Canadian company, ironically). If those of us with 1941-47 road cars; Packards, Buicks, Cadillacs, Hudsons, Chryslers, don't patronize the surviving purveyor, we're left with only funky bias plies people in a third world wouldn't buy, or metric SUV (pick up chassis) tires (225/235/15) which do NOT look remotely right in our wheel openings.
Attach file:
(37.34 KB)
Howard,
What is the correct width of the whitewall for the 1947 2106? I am about to spring for a set and may as well get the correct one.
Also, is it feasible to just buy 4 tires and keep the bias spare for emergencies? Or, should I bite the bullet and buy 5. Of course, the tires will rot before ever getting any mileage on them, so I am not worrying about rotations.
Thanks.
Robert
Re: Correct whitewall tire width
I wish I knew but the precise dimension of the old whitewall portion seems to be elusive. I don't know if it differed between tire mfgs or was specific to a size but you do see a bit of variation in old photos. Unless someone at the tire company has an old catalog and suggestion or someone still has an original tire to measure I think it will be best guess. All I can suggest at the moment is to compare a 21st series sales brochure photo such as some shown in this 46 offeringhttps://www.packardinfo.com/xoops/html/downloads/1946_SuperClipper_Brochure.pdf to the tire you are considering and see how they match. To me it looks as if the whitewall covers just over half the width of the sidewall and whatever width that works out to is what I would be thinking of.
If you are buying radials I think I would splurge for the 5th. If staying with bias then 4 and hope the spare never gets used if it is old rubber. While I don't know the exact reasoning it seems to be an absolute and definite NO to run a bias tire with radials. I would take that to mean the handling suffers in some fashion but whether it is bad enough to worry about with just a spare is a question.
COMMENT FROM su8overdrive
NO 1946 cars regardless of make, model, price, were delivered with whitewalls, and only a v e r y few 1947s were during the final few weeks of the model year.
So whitewalls on 1946-47 cars are historically incorrect. In the day, most wealthy folks eschewed whitewalls as gauche, tacky. You rarely saw them on R-R, Bentley, Delage, Lagonda, Delahaye, Bugatti.
They're largely a Detroit conceit. With a restrained, refreshingly understated design like a Clipper, less is more. A friend runs blackwalls on his black '40 180 Darrin with black top, gray interior, only the base bail hood ornament, and you really see the car. See my '47 senior Clipper on the Owner Registry here (su8overdrive, Walnut Creek).
In a sea of old cars with "gotta have" whitewalls, your car will stand out, especially given its extrovert color.
Too much ego, vanity among clubbies and otherwise well-meaning sites like this, as with "100-point" 1946-47 cars at CCCA Grand Classics and Packard Club events with whitewalls and gloss black (instead of matte or semi-gloss) engine accessories.
I've mentioned all this too many times on the forums to bother again trying to counter vanity, revisionist history with authenticity.
If you can't find a set of Bridgetone R230 LT radials in our 7.00 x 15 bias ply size, pick up a set of the identical spec Yokohama RY215 -- which is what Diamond Back vulcanizes a whitewall on for the downhome hobby krowd.
Michelin produced an identical spec 7.00 x 15 bias sized radial until the early aughts, now Bridgestone (a Japanese company) has apparently stopped producing the R230, leaving only Yokohama (a Canadian company, ironically). If those of us with 1941-47 road cars; Packards, Buicks, Cadillacs, Hudsons, Chryslers, don't patronize the surviving purveyor, we're left with only funky bias plies people in a third world wouldn't buy, or metric SUV (pick up chassis) tires (225/235/15) which do NOT look remotely right in our wheel openings.
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