67 L-88 Goes for $1.25 Million at Mecum Monterey!!

[William N.]

Re: 67 L-88 Goes for $1.25 Million at Mecum Monterey!!

I had a set of these aftermarket Goodyear Blue Streaks on my 63 in the late 60s. In fact when I purchased the car in 67 it had a set of Blue Streaks with both a white and blue stripe on them. One of these developed a bad spot and I took them to the local Goodyear store for replacement. The tires I received in replacement were exactly the same as the ones on the 67. They were just a premium street replacement tire. In fact I had one left over and sold it to a collector in the late 70's at Bloomington, wouldn't be surprised if it ended up on this car.

[Joe L.]

Re: 67 L-88 Goes for $1.25 Million at Mecum Monterey!!

The racing versions of the "Blue Streak" tires are still manufactured by Goodyear in a limited range of sizes and can be purchased through Goodyear dealers.

http://www.racegoodyear.com/tires/pdf/vintage.pdf

[Duke W.]

Re: 67 L-88 Goes for $1.25 Million at Mecum Monterey!!

The current vintage Blue Streak racing tires go back to about the circa '65 designs, but not the higher profiles that were common up to about '64.

Like most modern racing tires, these vintage Blue Streak racing tires don't hold air very well.

Up to about '64 racing tires had more sidewall rubber and didn't loose air, and you could actually run them on the street, but their low cord angles yielded a very harsh ride. They were constructed somewhat along the lines of truck tires, which allowed them to endure the rigors or racing that would tend to shred typical street tires.

In terms of grip they were somewhat better than street tires, but their real forte was durability.

Everything started to change about 1965 when racing tires began their rapid divergence from street tires that resulted in 18" wide slicks by the end of the sixties.

Duke

[Scott S.]

Re: 67 L-88 Goes for $1.25 Million at Mecum Monterey!!

Thanks to everyone for the replies about the Blue Streak tires. They look great to me, just need a V-rated street tire version, 215/65-R15 or 215/70-R15, and I'm all set

[Patrick H.]

Re: 67 L-88 Goes for $1.25 Million at Mecum Monterey!!

Thanks to everyone for the replies about the Blue Streak tires. They look great to me, just need a V-rated street tire version, 215/65-R15 or 215/70-R15, and I'm all set

The closet you will come is to have Diamondback make you a custom set:

http://www.widewhitewalltires.com/index.html

See page 15.
I'm sure you could call them to discuss using a certain tire.

[Steve B.]

Re: 67 L-88 Goes for $1.25 Million at Mecum Monterey!!

I had a set of these aftermarket Goodyear Blue Streaks on my 63 in the late 60s. In fact when I purchased the car in 67 it had a set of Blue Streaks with both a white and blue stripe on them. One of these developed a bad spot and I took them to the local Goodyear store for replacement. The tires I received in replacement were exactly the same as the ones on the 67. They were just a premium street replacement tire. In fact I had one left over and sold it to a collector in the late 70's at Bloomington, wouldn't be surprised if it ended up on this car.

William, your tire may have ended up on this one. I used to own this car and I loved the bluestreaks with that color scheme.

[Dick W.]

Re: 67 L-88 Goes for $1.25 Million at Mecum Monterey!!

For comparison, here are some pictures of the another Goodyear blue-line on a vintage racer, and what may be a THIRD blue-line style tire (the word "Goodyear" looks smaller, possibly a different tread pattern) on the Bob Wingate FSO car.

Picture 1: 2006 NCRS National Convention

Picture 2: 2006 NCRS National Convention (#2)

Picture 3: Bob Wingate '67

Picture 4: Close-up of Wingate '67 blue-line tire

Scott, the tires in the photos are racing tires. The tires on the Wayne Walker '67 have a very narrow tread vs the wide racing tires. I had a set of GY Sports Car Specials (I believe that is what they were called) on a set of magnesium American Racing wheels. They were early '70's vintage. The tread nowhere resembled the tires on the L/88

[Tom M.]

Re: 67 L-88 Goes for $1.25 Million at Mecum Monterey!!

the black 67 L88 is one of the best in the corvette world,
what car would you guys want to own.....
67 L88 OR 69 ZL1, ????
or What?????

[Clem Z.]

Re: 67 L-88 Goes for $1.25 Million at Mecum Monterey!!

Scott, the tires in the photos are racing tires. The tires on the Wayne Walker '67 have a very narrow tread vs the wide racing tires. I had a set of GY Sports Car Specials (I believe that is what they were called) on a set of magnesium American Racing wheels. They were early '70's vintage. The tread nowhere resembled the tires on the L/88

i ran both GY sports car specials and firestone gold stripe road race tires back in the 60s in auto cross and track days. i also had them mounted on either american mags or wide buick rims with chevy centers welded in. after i got out of corvettes for a while i loaned them out but they never came back.

[Steven B.]

Re: 67 L-88 Goes for $1.25 Million at Mecum Monterey!!

I ordered a set of Blue Streaks in the summer of '65 and after a couple of months the distributor told me the factory was having problems with the WHITE stripe on the tire---they had mistakenly ordered the Blue Streak with the dual blue stripe and white stripe. Had to reorder the regular Blue Streaks.

I currently have 6 Good Year Blue Streak Sports Car Specials stored in an upstairs bath, the one my wife never goes in. The 14" Blue Streaks are reproduced currently as are 7.75 X 15 Blue Dots. I am still waiting for someone to reproduce the Firestone 170's.

'Saw and heard Wayne unload the L-88 at Copper Mountain. Beautiful car and sound.

Steve

[Duke W.]

Re: 67 L-88 Goes for $1.25 Million at Mecum Monterey!!

Thanks to everyone for the replies about the Blue Streak tires. They look great to me, just need a V-rated street tire version, 215/65-R15 or 215/70-R15, and I'm all set

Pirelli P4000 Super Touring or Avon CR6ZZ, which is a bonafide DOT legal racing tire. Both are V-rated and available in the 215/70R-15 size, and both are okay to mount on OE 6" C2 wheels. Sevens are better, but there are likely to be clearance issues.

The Pirelli will provide tens of thousands of miles of good touring service and excellent handling.

With proper tuning (alignment and hard bushings for the front anti-roll bar links) of the base suspension, the Avon will achieve about 1.0 g lateral, but will only last 5-10K miles of road driving, depending on how aggressive you are.

Duke

[Clem Z.]

Re: 67 L-88 Goes for $1.25 Million at Mecum Monterey!!

I ordered a set of Blue Streaks in the summer of '65 and after a couple of months the distributor told me the factory was having problems with the WHITE stripe on the tire---they had mistakenly ordered the Blue Streak with the dual blue stripe and white stripe. Had to reorder the regular Blue Streaks.

I currently have 6 Good Year Blue Streak Sports Car Specials stored in an upstairs bath, the one my wife never goes in. The 14" Blue Streaks are reproduced currently as are 7.75 X 15 Blue Dots. I am still waiting for someone to reproduce the Firestone 170's.

'Saw and heard Wayne unload the L-88 at Copper Mountain. Beautiful car and sound.

Steve

those GY SCS should be as hard as bakelite by now.

[Duke W.]

Re: 67 L-88 Goes for $1.25 Million at Mecum Monterey!!

They were hard as bakelite when new!

Duke

[Scott S.]

Re: 67 L-88 Goes for $1.25 Million at Mecum Monterey!!

The closet you will come is to have Diamondback make you a custom set:

http://www.widewhitewalltires.com/index.html

See page 15.
I'm sure you could call them to discuss using a certain tire.

Thanks Patrick, I will investigate.

[Scott S.]

Re: 67 L-88 Goes for $1.25 Million at Mecum Monterey!!

William, your tire may have ended up on this one. I used to own this car and I loved the bluestreaks with that color scheme.

Steve,

The close-up I attached in Post 11 (picture 3) was yours!