original spare tire?

I looked at a maverick today it had the original spare tire, was the spare a different type tire than whjat was used on the car from factory? it had ridges on sidewall like the old 50s type tires

 

I don't know about the ridges, but I think the rim was much smaller, like a 14X4 or something.

I tried to find a second one like it for front drag tires, and could never match it.

 

when i got my comet it had a full size rim in the trunk. it probably wasnt original but the original jack and spare tire hold downs were all in place and the rim was dead flat so for all i know it could have ben as old as the car

 

yea the tire was ultra skinny , like u said a 4" rim probably

 

Mine had a really skinny spare, and I spent months trying to find a match to use them as skinnies up front for drag racing. I ended up buying several "spares" from mavericks, granadas, etc, and they all ended up being 14X6 rather than the 14X 4-or-5 like my original spare was. Never did find that second skinny spare to match it so I bought 2 15X6 rims for drag nite....

 

I thought full size spare was an option...
Or was it the other way around, and the space saver was an option?

Mine in the Sprint is full size and has the original, never been on the ground, tire.
Polyglas

 

My 71 Comet, that I bought in 1980 (white one in the right pic below), had one of the original tires still in the trunk.

I want to say that it was a Uniroyal 6.25 - 14, and yes, it had ribs around the outside of the sidewall. That size (if I remember the number size correctly ...27 years, ya' know ...) equated to a B78-14 in letter sizes. I distinctly remember that because it was such an odd size. I worked for Goodyear at the time.


The rims on the car were 5 bolt 14x4s. I ended up running them on the front with 14x7 station wagon rims on the back and the dog dish caps. Very sleepy ...

 

The spare tire should be the same size as the original tires. If one looks at the build sheet, it will note the size of the rims and tires, and will note a quantity of: "5".

 

Both my cars have the original spares, one is a Goodyear polyglass gt and the other a Firestone wide oval, the same tires that came on the cars new, I once had a 74 6 cyl Comet that had the original unused spare, which was the same size as the tires that came on the car new.

 

intresting sounds to me like, they used two different sizes!

 

My spare was a firestone d70 bias ply 14x4 rim. When I got the car I went a found one just like it in the junkyard and had hours of fun "rubberizing" the parking lot. Nothing burns like a bias ply.

 

I still have the original spare in my '75. It is one of the famous Firestone 721s that was recalled because it separated from the belts causing failure and huge lawsuits for the company in the mid '70s. I wonder if it's a collector's item? (junk collector maybe )

 

They had a big blowout sale shortly after that!

 

"blowout sale"

At the same time as the 721 recalls, Goodyear had a tire called the Polysteel that had a lot of failures, too. We called them "Polypeels".

With these and the Firestones that were on Explorers that were recalled, the tires did fine if they had the proper amount of air in them. Run them a bit low and overheat them and they did not survive the misuse very well.