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Now that a month has passed since purchasing my Dark Blue 73 coupe I finally got around to looking at the spare. The PO had the car for 4 yrs and never looked at it. I could see from the side of the carrier that it looked like it had old style siping/tread and was holding air. Maybe 1973 air? Since I didn’t have a key for the lock, I drilled it out and lowered the carrier to see what certainly appears to be the original spare and if so, this car was optioned with QRM white sidewalI tires. I don’t have any history on this car prior to 2015, other than PO bought it in TX. Discovering this OG spare is another data point in the story the car is telling me,... slowly, but it’s revealing it’s secrets.
OG nibs,and paint markings
I’ve interpreted this DOT mold mark to be Jan. 9th 1973. The car’s build date is May 31st.
Ahhh, I see, thank you for the correction. That brings the dates even closer. St Louis an GM purchasing were already pushing the JIT inventory control.
Hi Fran, if your aviator is your 73, we appear to have twins. Mine is a low optioned base coupe. Tilt-tele and the white sidewalls are the only options on my car. It’s had one sympathetic repaint in the original dark blue although I suspect it may not be the actual exact color. The interior is black vinyl and a PO appears to have replaced the door panels with the deluxe models. The glass is all original. There’s no evidence of collision damage except the urethane nose has been replaced with a glass piece. I guess this could have been replaced due to other factors too. It’s suffered the usual bubba hacks on the electrical harnesses over the years but not too bad. The tires on this car are like new but are 12 years old and evidence that the POs didn’t use it and it was parked away from the sun. The car is cosmetically presentable but is keeping me busy with endless detailing opportunities. Underhood has been toyed with a bit. The PO upped the compression by adding a pair of GM L98 aluminum heads to the stock original short block, keeping the rams horn manifolds but swapping in an Edelbrock Performer intake and Holley 600 carb. He added MSD ignition, distributor and coil as well. Fortunately he saved the parts he removed; Rochester carb, stock distributor, shielding, water pump, clutch fan, air cleaner etc. The OG iron heads and intake were stolen out of his shed. The numbers match on the block, trans and diff. The mileage would appear to be 109,000ish. That kinda matches the rest of the visual story with the car as being gently used and maintained as required.
[img]blob:https://www.corvetteforum.com/d13a8e...6-7104881546d3[img]blob:https://www.corvetteforum.com/e2c517...8-1c160e2537b6[img]blob:https://www.corvetteforum.com/b91d33...7-557595b78edc[img]blob:https://www.corvetteforum.com/c3bf0d...a-01e763c36119
Last edited by 210ken; Sep 9, 2019 at 01:14 PM.
Reason: Added pics
Hi Ken,
Great looking 73! Cool that you found it still had the original Firestone Spare. Would you mind posting a photo of the Wheel weight(s) on the back if there are any?
Thank you!
Jimmy
If you have the original fan and clutch and the clutch is in good condition, reinstall them. The current flex fan isnt even close to the fan shroud, In addition the factory setup is quieter and more efficient..
Yup already put the OG fan and clutch back on. The fact that the PO chose to put a blue flex fan on makes me question his judgement on other things. The Mustang style air cleaner has to go too!
I'm not aware that any 'thin line' whitewalls were available from the factory. My memory indicates that they were about 1" wide whitewall tires.
The original buyer might have asked that thin, white stripe tires be exchanged for his factory-issue tires before taking possession.
Honestly, I can’t imagine anyone actually preferring any style of white sidewall tire on a Vette when a RWL radial was available. Same with the optional wheel covers vs trim rings & caps. Different strokes...
That look just like my original spare tire with white wall Firestone. I know that mine is original because I am the one who ordered mine in Aug. 1972.
Here is my spare that I just cleaned and was in the spare compartment all these years. By the way, these Firestone tires were terrible and I replaced
them with General tires In 1973.
Donnie
Last edited by DonnieP73; Sep 9, 2019 at 04:35 PM.
That look just like my original spare tire with white wall Firestone. I know that mine is original because I am the one who ordered mine in Aug. 1972.
Here is my spare that I just cleaned and was in the spare compartment all these years. By the way, these Firestone tires were terrible and I replaced
them with General tires In 1973.
Donnie
Ding ding ding ding I’ll call that a credible 3rd party confirmation!! Thank you for chiming in.
BTW, sorry if my comments regarding the choice of WSW vs RWL May have rubbed you the wrong way 🤐
Thin white wall was standard. Most cars came with them. There was a shortage of white lettered tires in 73. 73 was the first year of the radial. Firestone where recalled. This is according to the ncrs manual. But what do they know. My car should have came primer according to most of those people. 🤦*♂️
Thin white wall was standard. Most cars came with them. There was a shortage of white lettered tires in 73. 73 was the first year of the radial. Firestone where recalled. This is according to the ncrs manual. But what do they know. My car should have came primer according to most of those people. 🤦*♂️
...the blackwall GR70-15 was the standard tire, the "narrow white stripe" & RWL were the optional extra cost tires. These were the exact same narrow stripe tires my '74 came with. It has a build date of 9-11-73.
...the blackwall GR70-15 was the standard tire, the "narrow white stripe" & RWL were the optional extra cost tires. These were the exact same narrow stripe tires my '74 came with. It has a build date of 9-11-73.
I miss stated not standard but the most cars came with whitewalls. Blackwall was standard.
Thin whitewalls must have taken over in 1973. Actually, the red, blue and gold thin wall tires were much the rage when they came out. As mentioned above, '73 was first year for radials and, apparently, the first year for the narrow whitewall. According to the Black Book, twice as many thin whitewall tires were ordered than white letter tires (as options). One year later ('74), there were twice as many RWL optional tires ordered than thin whitewalls!! Interesting how 'tastes' change so quickly.
FWIW: The 1" wide whitewall tires of the early C3 years (68-72) looked GREAT...if you ordered the P02 hubcaps. They did not look that good on rally wheels (IMO). Rally wheels and RWL tires are the "look" that early C3 owners treasure the most. No P02's after 1972....
Ken,
Yes our cars are very close. Mine is an L82 4 sp built 10/6/72 with PS, PB, AC, AM/FM mono radio. Some time in 1988, the PO replaced the standard set covers with leather. Interior is Midnight blue 413 and exterior is Dark Blue Metallic 927. Car was repainted with original color in the late 1990's. Mileage today is 65427.
Original 1973 spare
