Original Spare Tire?

[Bob H.]

I was pleasantly surprised when dropping the spare on my recently purchased July 71 Corvette. I discovered it is a Goodyear Polyglas GT in new condition. It is not a reproduction and appears to be dated for Feb 71. My issue is that it is marked as a "blem". It cleaned up perfectly. The rim is perfect and looks too good to be original paint. I doubt it would come new with the car so perhaps it was purchased to replace a tire early on. Any other thoughts?

[Joe L.]

Re: Original Spare Tire?

I was pleasantly surprised when dropping the spare on my recently purchased July 71 Corvette. I discovered it is a Goodyear Polyglas GT in new condition. It is not a reproduction and appears to be dated for Feb 71. My issue is that it is marked as a "blem". It cleaned up perfectly. The rim is perfect and looks too good to be original paint. I doubt it would come new with the car so perhaps it was purchased to replace a tire early on. Any other thoughts?

Bob-----


What makes you think this is a Polyglas GT? A Polyglass GT was a fiberglass belted, bias ply tire. These were never used on any Corvette.

The tire pictured appears to be a Goodyear Speedway Wide Tread tire which is the type tire used on 1968-72 Corvettes. I would be surprised to find that a "blem" tire would have been originally installed on a Corvette but I suppose it's possible. I can tell you this, though: these tires were not easy to find "back in the day". They could be obtained but they were almost always a "special order" tire. The average person replacing tires on a Corvette wouldn't have gone to this effort to obtain the exact type tire originally installed. They would just obtain tires of the proper size which the tire dealer had in stock. In fact, these original tires were not a particularly great tire and usually Corvette owners wanted something better----something like a Polyglas GT. I know that when I needed my first tire replacement on my 1969, I didn't want the original tires. I opted for the Polyglas GT and had several sets over the years until they were discontinued. These were a hard riding tire but they were the best handling tires I ever had on the car, bar none.

[Bob H.]

Re: Original Spare Tire?

Yes Joe, Don't know what I was thinking. Guess I had polyglas on my mind from my Chevelle days.. It is a Speedway Wide Tread but the Blem mark surprised me. Don't know how this would be judged.

[Mike E.]

Re: Original Spare Tire?

Did/does it have an orange paint dot on it that aligned with the bb along the outer rim? That would be a dead giveaway that it is original.

[Edward J.]

Re: Original Spare Tire?

Here's a pic of a original 72 tire, the wheel was repainted 12 years ago, still has the nubs on tire.

[Darryl D.]

Re: Original Spare Tire?

I was pleasantly surprised when dropping the spare on my recently purchased July 71 Corvette. I discovered it is a Goodyear Polyglas GT in new condition. It is not a reproduction and appears to be dated for Feb 71. My issue is that it is marked as a "blem". It cleaned up perfectly. The rim is perfect and looks too good to be original paint. I doubt it would come new with the car so perhaps it was purchased to replace a tire early on. Any other thoughts?

I would not be surprises to find a blem tire slipped in as a spare when these cars were new.

[Gary B.]

Re: Original Spare Tire?

Bob,

Are there any balance weights on the back side?

gary

[Bob H.]

Re: Original Spare Tire?

We are on vacation but I will chck for the dot and weights when I get back. Thanks