White-wall Tire Club!

Hi Dave, Glad to see you are active here. But I must admit I am confused as to tire talk. Didn't you tell me at the PAS meet this summer you were just a blackwall guy? I am sure my memory is correct. But I also remember looking under the sidemount covers of you car and finding white walls! I think when the going gets tough, you will , as many others will ...... go running, or driving, back to the old reliable white wall ways. It was very nice of you to say you like me, and I must admit I am very fond of you also. (LOL) Just one last question, with all those wonderful Pierce Arrows to drive, why in the world do you own all of those other cars? I know you have been trying to get rid of some of them, and to help you out....... I'll take the Packard off your hands and store it up here in the north...... I know they make good plow cars.... I have a photo of one plowing snow for a town north of here..... I'll put the blade off my John Deere on it and get some miles under it's belt. Do you have any tire chains to go with it? All my best, Ed Minnie II

Hi Ed! Well, when I said "Great One" I was really talking about the post and what you had written, but if you want it as a personal title that's your business.

Yes, I've heard Packards are good for something, now you've told me what. We only get snow here in northern Virginia a couple of times a year, but it would be handy to have a plow on the Packard...hmmmmm...

I could start some debate here by saying that the Packard is my wife's car, that it really isn't up to the standards of a Pierce, but I better not say that. I'd make some comment such as "a Pierce is engineered better, built better, and overall a much finer car (particularly mechanically)than a Packard", but, again, those kinds of things probably are best not said in public.

Sure appreciate the offer of garage space! Could use it! Best- David

about white-walls:

All kidding aside, it is interesting to look at photographs taken during the classic era ( roughly 1925 to the start of World War Two) and see how few cars had white-walls. Also of interest, and relevant to this discussion, is how few were painted in anything but a solid dark color, overwhelmingly black !

The "color" black, of course, absorbs radiation from the sun, and given the comparitive instability of the finishing techniques of that era, they "dulled out" fairly fast unless continiously polished.

Bottom line - how different the real world of cars looked in that era, compared to the modern "car show" !

In fairness to car restorers, if you look at the advertisements of that era, you do see both bright colors AND white walls. My own favorite marque, Packard, was famous for "prettying up" its advertisements. Anyone who has seen the FORTUNE MAGAZINE ads of that era knows what I am referring to...bright yellows, reds, ..just...WOW ! And of course one COULD order a car that way, but very very few did.

I am just as big an offender as the next guy.. my Packard Twelve, as were most large luxury cars purchased by the upper classes, reflected the very conservative tastes of that era, and that class. Delivered SOLID black, and BLACK wall tires. Over the years, I have re-painted it several times, each new color combination the result of MY personal "mood" at the time ( it is now two tone dark blue).

Bottom line - it IS a free country, and it's YOUR private property ! My own personal view is

1) Make your own decisions, and stick with em...its YOUR car....!

2) Be prepared that no matter WHAT you do, SOMEONE is going to

wonder why you aren't doing it "their way", and accept

that people have different opinions, without getting flustered !

Pete Hartmann