My GT 350 car came from the factory with steel rims & wheel covers/hubcaps. I mentioned elsewhere that I learned that almost all the 1968 Shelby Mustangs came with steel rims and hubcaps. Seems there was an issue with the four piston, Kelsey Hayes disc brakes so single piston discs were used on the 1968 Shelby Mustangs. And it seems that those single piston disc brakes wouldn’t fit inside these 15″ ten spoke Shelby aluminum rims without rubbing. So only a handful of 68 Shelby Mustangs actually got the ten spoke rims. But when I ordered the ten spoke rims, in 1983, I didn’t know this story, I had assumed this car just didn’t get the aluminum rims. And sure enough with one of my new rims, the stock KH brakes rubbed. A grinder in the right place quickly fixed that issue.
The Shelby Mustang GT 350 came with Goodyear Speedway 350 E70-15″ tires. These were bias belted tires. This is from a time when radial tires were not available.
The ten spoke aluminum rims shown above on my car are directly NOS from Shelby American back about 1983. These rims are 15″ x 7″ wide.
By the way, all those new, high speed tires do not come in 15″ sizes. They are for 16=20″ rims. BF Goodrich is one of the FEW companies left that make any kind of performance tires for a 15″ rim. A couple of summers ago I put new Goodrich TA’s on it.
BF Goodrich White Letter Performance All Season
These are the sizes of the tires on my car.
Front Tires 215/65R15 95S SL
Rear Tires 245/60R15 – 100S SL (same height but rear tires are about an inch wider.)
- S speed rating allows for continuous use up to 112 mph
BF Goodrich TA P215/60R15 / P245/60R15
- UTOG 400 A B
- Max Load 1,345 lbs.
- Max Inflation pressure 35 psi
- Tread Depth 11/32″
- Tire height 26.6″
- Tire weight 22 lbs / 30 lbs
- Rim Width Range 6-7.5″ / 7-8.5″
- Measured rim width 6.5″ / 7″
- Sect Width 8.7″ / 9.8″
- Tread width 7.2″ / 8.3″
- Overall diameter 24.2″ / 26.6″
- Revs per mile 861 / 782
- Country of origin MX
Quick story. I had Goodyear ST’s on it. Put them on it late 80’s. Probably didn’t have 10,000 miles on them. They looked like new tires. I was talking to a tire dealership client about cars and stuff and asked him how long those radial tires were good for? He said normally about 6-8 years max. Really? I did a Google search and found numerous discussions in the different car forums about guys who did what I did. They put tires on a classic car much more than 10 years ago. The tires look like new. The owners were very surprised that the tires come apart while driving down the highway. The belts break, get loose or whatever inside the tire. There are many stories in the forums about that happening. So when my dealer said 6-8 years life he neglected to tell me what could happen. I was a bit shocked and put new tires on my car. Tires are a very important item on a car. I’ve never run questionable tires on a car. Bad tires are a real bad idea.
Second Quick Story: How I learned about the steel rims on the 1968 Shelbys. I was at a local car show. Got to talking to one of the other Shelby car owners. I mentioned that my car had a 1967 RUG Toploader. He off handed said that goes well with the 67 rims you have on your car. 67 rims on my car? Those rims were offered by Shelby. He told me that all the 68 Shelby’s came with steel rims and hubcaps. Really? So I reached out to SAAC and sure enough he was right. Only a small handful of cars in 68 got the ten spoke rims due to the above disc brake issue. I have long since disposed of those steel rims and hubcaps. Didn’t care for the looks when I had them. I was real surprised how much a set of those wheel and hubcaps are worth today. A lot of owners got rid of them.