1968 KR original equipment tires

Those Tires are not Radials, they are BiasPly.
David.

 

Almost all KRs (and some late 350s) came with E70 15 blackwall Goodyear Polyglass GTs. There is no reproduction currently available.
Tim

 

I have an original spare on the original wheel in the trunk of my KR. See the picture below and click forward a few more pics too.

http://picasaweb.google.com/mike.herman/MY68KRConvertible/photo#5073594854668675058

 

Hi to all! Just a simple suggestion.Check out the coralsnake website for any 1968 information.There is a ton of info,and it is very well formatted.Enjoy!!

 

If you are going to drive your car put on some good Goodyear radials . The Goodyear speedways are junk for driving on compared to even the cheapest Goodyear radial. If you are going to show your car the Goodyear Speedway 350 tires are concours correct for SAAC DIV II or MCA trailered concours and should be no points deducted because they are the correct size and the correct MFG even though technically the KR's didn't run on those tires. However if you were going to compete in the harder class's of SAAC DIV I or MCA Thoroughbred class were only original assemblyline parts are used and no reproduction parts are allowed then you would need the E70 15 blackwall polyglas. Any other situation the polyglas blackwalls are overkill .

 

Interesting. What if you had 4 350 Speedways on the car but an original Polyglas in the trunk for a spare? How would that be viewed for judging purposes?

 

In the SAAC DIV II or MCA trailered concours since the tires are the same size ,MFG and Bias Ply construction there are no points deduction . There are stricter class's as mentioned that would deduct points. This same latitude is given repro parts VS original parts in the SAAC DIV II and MCA trailered class's.You would not get extra points for the original parts or tires in those class's but by the same token the original parts or tires do have to look new in excellent condition. If you run the polyglas blackwall spare that you post pictures of you may get points deduction for the dry rot cracks because it is still expected to look new.In those particular class's it would be better to run a new repro tire then a less then excellent original part or tire.

 

Clove9414, it sounds like you have a nice car. I would suggest going for the repro tires . The reason you see the Speedways used on KR's almost 99.9% of the time is because 1-The Speedways are available repro and are the same size,plus the original tires are overkill on all but the toughest concours classes 2- Most 68 Shelby enthusiests don't know the poly glas blackwall was original equipment on the KR, 3- since those tires were only used on the KR's and later 68 Shelby's plus early 1969 production they are extremly rare. There is a redline polyglas version that was used on GM cars at the same time which is more common that people try to fill in the redline groove and pass off as the correct tire but it is not correct. It is hard to find a set of excellent E 70 15 correct polyglas tires even if you are welling to spend the money. The last set I saw sell went for 15,000.00 which is another reason you seldom see them.

 

One thing to note. If you've never driven a car with bias ply tires or haven't driven one in a while, the first time you drive it will feel like your steering box is shot. It takes a while but you'll get used to it.
Tim