White wall tires

[Pomeroy41144]

Over the years I have heard car guys say that you never saw a Ford back in the day with whitewalls.Probably more true with Model A as a lot of them today wear whitewalls. I have all of the Loren Sorenson Ford books and I love one wide lens picture of a 1937 Ford showroom in one of his series,every Ford, sedans,
coupes open cars are wearing whitewall tires.

I agree, very seldom see Model A cars with white walls in 1930s era photographs.

V-8 is a different story. There are 1930s era Ford photos that show some of the cars in whitewalls (see the DeAngelis book). And regular 1930s era photos every now and then show cars with whitewalls. For a variety of reasons, including industrial and economic reasons, whitewalls on all makes are more prevalent in the late 30s rather than the early 30s.

To get a good idea of what stuff looked like it is good to look at as many era photos of cars and street scenes as possible. I know--seems obvious. The street scene photos give a good peek at what people were driving and what the cars looked like during everyday use. Old movies also show 1930s cars in their natural environment. Love to look at those.

 

[AnthonyG]

$12 in 1935 dollars equals about $205 in 2017 dollars.

Just did my own math $616 dollar car today = $30,000 that's 48 times higher so I multiplied 48 X 12 = $576

 

[rotorwrench]

I remember discussions about white wall tires when I was a kid listening to grandparents and other family members. I have to add that my family were farm folks so they were conservative with their funds (nothing to do with politics). The older members remembered the old white rubber tires sold by Goodyear, Firestone, Fisk, an a few others back in the teens & twenties and they saw that they wore out quickly and looked like crap after a while on the road. This sort of made them black wall folks for the rest of their lives. They didn't trust the white rubber for anything. This may have been the way a good number of folks thought at the time besides that fact that the stuff was more expensive.

 

[TonyM]

Just did my own math $616 dollar car today = $30,000 that's 48 times higher so I multiplied 48 X 12 = $576

That is not how it is done.

This inflation calculator indicates that the difference is $17.78 to $1.00.

That is, $1 in 1935 dollars is equal to $17.78 in 2017 dollars.

That $12 option is about $213 in today's money.

Check it out--it is interesting to mess with.


https://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl?cost1=1.00&year1=1935&year2=2017

 

[TonyM]

Here is an era photo. No white walls can be seen.

 

[TonyM]

Whitewalls on this 1940 Ford.

 

[TonyM]

This Driver's Ed car has very very dirty whitewalls.

 

[TonyM]

If you look carefully, there are white walls on the 1937 Ford for $339.

 

[TonyM]

1931 Cadillac V-16 has whitewalls.

 

[TonyM]

Valeska Powell with her father's 1935 De Luxe Coupe.

The car was purchased with blackwall tires.

 

[RalphM]

This Driver's Ed car has very very dirty whitewalls.

Looks like that student needs a little more practice!

 

[Bob NH]

Looking at the Wells Beach, Maine picture tells me there had to be a great love for 37 Fords at that time.

 

[Ford46]

Whitewalls on any 1943- 1946 vehicle going through "Concourse Judging" will get you a points deduction (effective January 1, 2013).

 

[AnthonyG]

I liked them and kept em on for 3 years but recently went with the black walls. Like them as well. A little more I think but that's probably cause they're still new.

 

[ronn]

In 1932, doubt many people "wore" ww tires. It was a bit flamboyant coming out of the depression.

 

[DavidG]

With respect, 'out of the depression'? 1932 was the worst year of the Great Depression followed by the recession within the Depression in 1937.

 

[JM 35 Sedan]

I liked them and kept em on for 3 years but recently went with the black walls. Like them as well. A little more I think but that's probably cause they're still new.

I think black wall's just look so right on these old Fords. I'm running www on my 35 fordor now because the black walls I have are too tall for the rear now that I'm running 3.54 gears.

 

[TonyM]

I liked them and kept em on for 3 years but recently went with the black walls. Like them as well. A little more I think but that's probably cause they're still new.

The blackwalls look really great on your car.

 

[TonyM]

I love a regular black Ford Sedan with blackwalls. Any black Ford with blackwalls is good with me. The basic Ford car. John, your car looks great with the blackwalls.

 

[Anteek29]

Comes down to a matter of personal taste...