[Father&Son73T/A]

Originally Posted by 1qikta

F&S.......Small hurst is my Kelsey Buddy..

Ok,sorry,maybe dinner and a back massage then?

[SmallHurst]

As for timing and prices, I do not have the time line other than the molds are being looked at and the research for everything is going on. Without going out and putting down a set date, I would say that we are looking at close to a year down the road.

As for pricing, I will say that I do not have a clue.

I wish I could be more specific, but I will be more than happy to share information when I get it!!!!

As for Jay he is one of my racing buds! No need for back rubs and other stuff, just beer!!!

[car guy]

Not soon enough for me. I need a set now. I cannot justify buying a set now and then a repo set a year later. As far as what was original. Everything I ever saw in a TAT was Uniroyal on Norwood and Goodyear on Van Nuys. I looked into that issue in the early 90's by looking at original cars and talking to owners.

[SmallHurst]

Not to ruffle your feathers, car guy, but is that observations or was that what happened at the factory?

As for the uniroyals, that one will have to be brought out by Coker. It may be reproduced, but you still have to go to the parent company and get their permission to use the trademark, etc.

[2manyT/A'S]

Nice to hear that BOTH white letter sizes (small & large) will be covered.

I believe that the Goodyear Polysteel in this size should have MORE sales potential than the Uniroyal. JMO

[Father&Son73T/A]

All joking and back rubbing aside.LOL,..this is a great thing haaving the tires of late second gens reproed.
Too bad I have new 255 60 BFG's on my 79 W72.
However when they run out of tread/time,these will go on it....
Now I need to get back to my Tequilla.............

[car guy]

Originally Posted by SmallHurst

Not to ruffle your feathers, car guy, but is that observations or was that what happened at the factory?

As for the uniroyals, that one will have to be brought out by Coker. It may be reproduced, but you still have to go to the parent company and get their permission to use the trademark, etc.

Well I am not saying that it is a definate factory thing but it is the way it came out everytime I talked with an original owner or an owner of a car with original equeipment and by no means a scientific study. My feathers aren't ruffled, it was just some info I thought I would pass on and anyone can make what they want of it.

[MikeNoun]

My brothers 79 Trans Am SE WS6 car came with Uniroyals. As someone stated above, it was determined by plant whether they had Uniroyals or Goodyears.

Not to burst anyone's bubble, but based on other reproduction Goodyear tire prices, such as $230+ for an F70-15, or their standard 70 series whitewall reproductions are $200+, so my guess is that these new repros are going to be $220+ per tire range. BFG Radial T/A's are around $80 per tire, and they look pretty darn good. I saw about 100 cars at the Trans Am Nats this year wearing BFG Radial T/A's, and many won class trophies.

Just my .02 cents, borrowed from Dennis Kirban.

[SmallHurst]

Again, I have no idea how much these are going to cost, but the price tag for the wide white radials that were introduced last year were south of the $200/ price tag. Again, ask questions and I will try to find answers for you.

One thing that this has going for it over the reproduction Polyglas is that these are radials. No one is going to ask, "How do these ride/ drive?"

I guess that looks are going to be what sells these tires.

Next question is, if there are no Uniroyals, will the car be more correct for judging wearing Goodyears and coming from the Norwood plant rather than a set of ????? brand?

In Oldsmobile judging (which I still have problems with), they will drop you 5 points/ tire for not having the 'correct' tire on the car and mounted up. For the classes that I judged, Firestones and Goodyears were both available. It did not depend on the plant or the wheel so much as it did which tire happened to be available to mount up. Food for thought.

[superdutybob]

Can we get some 74 vintage Goodyear Steelgards please? Drill your buddy about those Jay! YOU could use a set.

[1qikta]

Bob you are right!

I didnt tell you guys but at Dayton I had a little trouble. After friday KilKare I mounted my "New" (with nubs) 34 year old Firestone steel radial 500's for saturdays show.
Well, fri nite before we went out to eat I thought I needed to look in the trailor. I open the door to find the car sitting funny,then I looked down at the right front and it was flat.

The tire had seperated,bulged then ripped in the tread just sitting in the trailor..I spent the next hour changing the tire in the trailor (see: no room). I was just glad it didnt happen on the show field.

But, Saturday mornings thunderstorm/rain took care of the rest. I never got it out of the trailor until I got home Sunday.

[2manyT/A'S]

Originally Posted by SmallHurst

Again, I have no idea how much these are going to cost, but the price tag for the wide white radials that were introduced last year were south of the $200/ price tag. Again, ask questions and I will try to find answers for you.

One thing that this has going for it over the reproduction Polyglas is that these are radials. No one is going to ask, "How do these ride/ drive?"

I guess that looks are going to be what sells these tires.

Next question is, if there are no Uniroyals, will the car be more correct for judging wearing Goodyears and coming from the Norwood plant rather than a set of ????? brand?

In Oldsmobile judging (which I still have problems with), they will drop you 5 points/ tire for not having the 'correct' tire on the car and mounted up. For the classes that I judged, Firestones and Goodyears were both available. It did not depend on the plant or the wheel so much as it did which tire happened to be available to mount up. Food for thought.

Polyglas, (bias ply) were done as an OEM tire in 1974.

ALL 1975 & newer T/A's came with GR70 x 15 radials as standard equipment.

The Polysteel (which we are discussing here) was first introduced in 1978 & appeared on ALOT of 78-81 Trans ams & Firebirds. (I believe that Chevrolet also offered them on their underpowered & overpriced sports car in those years,as well)

Now if they were to come out with a radial version of the Polyglas GT (F60 x 15),I'm sure alot of the 70-73 T/A owners would take a serious look at them.

As far as "judging & correct-ness" goes on Polysteel vs Uniroyal steel belted,I'd say that at this point,either one SHOULD be considered "correct",but I feel that Goodyear would be the choice of MOST T/A owners. JMO

[Father&Son73T/A]

Originally Posted by 2manyT/A'S

Polyglas, (bias ply) were done as an OEM tire in 1974.

ALL 1975 & newer T/A's came with GR70 x 15 radials as standard equipment.

The Polysteel (which we are discussing here) was first introduced in 1978 & appeared on ALOT of 78-81 Trans ams & Firebirds. (I believe that Chevrolet also offered them on their underpowered & overpriced sports car in those years,as well)

Now if they were to come out with a radial version of the Polyglas GT (F60 x 15),I'm sure alot of the 70-73 T/A owners would take a serious look at them.

As far as "judging & correct-ness" goes on Polysteel vs Uniroyal steel belted,I'd say that at this point,either one SHOULD be considered "correct",but I feel that Goodyear would be the choice of MOST T/A owners. JMO

I like how you think,I would definitely be up for either or on my 73,and would purchase them as soon as they were available .
I had the Uniroyals on the car in 04,but were worried about them going Al quida on the qtr panels,so I ditched them,shouda wouda couda ..I know

[Mr W72]

Tires were not plant specific since both Goodyear and Uniroyals were used. To establish a certain brand was only used at Norwood or Van Nuys would be difficult at best. What if senerio - What would have happened if one of the brand of tires were in short supply, would WS6 cars be shiffed to the other plant or the order cancelled???? During 1978 model year the small letter Goodyear Polysteel Radial was the only tire used with the WS6 Pkg and 1978 WS6 Trans ams were produced at both plants.

[W72-Bandit]

Make sense, great info. John! Now that you mention it, I don't recall seeing a 78 WS6 car with Uniroyals.

Once these are released its gonna be hard to spot a low mile original car at the Nats. etc.

[Father&Son73T/A]

Originally Posted by W72-Bandit

Make sense, great info. John! Now that you mention it, I don't recall seeing a 78 WS6 car with Uniroyals.

Once these are released its gonna be hard to spot a low mile original car at the Nats. etc.

One look under the hood will determine that...

[SmallHurst]

I got off the phone with John Kelsey this morning and I have some very good news!!!

He is getting the second pre-production tires shipped to him this week. Things are progressing at a very rapid rate!! I am happy to pass along to you that there is a very real possibility of these tires being available this spring!!! Just in time for everyones car to come out of hibernation! I will keep feeding you guys information as I get it!!!!

[W72-Bandit]

Thanks for the update Russell. Looking forward to the release date.

[SmallHurst]

Got off the phone with Kelsey and he has one of the test tires in his possession right now. He has it mounted up on a 'Vette rim at the current time. Looking it over for styling and making sure it has the correct look on the lettering, etc. As soon as I am able, I will make my way down and grab a couple of snapshots. So far, it is full steam ahead!!!!

[superdutybob]

Originally Posted by 2manyT/A'S

Polyglas, (bias ply) were done as an OEM tire in 1974.

ALL 1975 & newer T/A's came with GR70 x 15 radials as standard equipment.

The Polysteel (which we are discussing here) was first introduced in 1978 & appeared on ALOT of 78-81 Trans ams & Firebirds. (I believe that Chevrolet also offered them on their underpowered & overpriced sports car in those years,as well)

Now if they were to come out with a radial version of the Polyglas GT (F60 x 15),I'm sure alot of the 70-73 T/A owners would take a serious look at them.

As far as "judging & correct-ness" goes on Polysteel vs Uniroyal steel belted,I'd say that at this point,either one SHOULD be considered "correct",but I feel that Goodyear would be the choice of MOST T/A owners. JMO

2many:

All 74 T/As came with GR70-15 radials, hence the Radial Tuned Suspension. You are one year late on your facts. You must have been thinking about catalytic convertors which made their appearance in 1975.