Vintage Tyres

For some time now Longstone Classic Tyres have been renown as a world leading supplier of vintage tyres. Longstone hold enormous stocks of classic and Vintage tyres from the world’s leading tyre manufacturers. Longstone keep close relationships with historic tyre manufacturers who are still interested in celebrating their heritage.

The Michelin Collection range of tyres has been pretty constant throughout history. Except for a few small gaps, Michelin’s commitment to producing important vintage tyres such as the time-honored Michelin X has been exceptional. The Michelin X was the first radial tyre, fitted on the Citroen traction Avant, 2CV and early Citroen DS. Then of course the venerable XAS, where Michelin introduced the first asymmetric radial tyre, dramatically improving the high speed cruising ability of cars of the late 1960s. After this the Michelin XWX, a famous historic tread pattern fitted to Ferraris of the ‘70s and forever synonymous with the fabulous old Dino 246GT. In the late 1970s the excellent TRX, a ground-breaking tyre, allowed low profile tyres to still give an acceptable level of vibration absorption. The Michelin Collection range is now moving into modern classic, as well as vintage tyres with additions such as the MXV3-A for young timer hatch-back cars like the Golf GTi, Pilot Sport for Ferrari Testrossa, Dodge Viper and Aston Martin Vantage and SX MXX3 for modern classic Porsche. Michelin also make the exceptional range of TB15 and TB5 road legal tyres for classic tarmac rallies. Of course with these tyres, you know they are a Michelin so you have that guarantee of quality.

Lucas Vintage tyres from the US offer an exceptional value range of proper vintage tyres. These are tyres that we at Longstone Tyres are happy to drive our vintage Model A Ford from one side of the country to the other. The quality is considerably better than you would expect for the price. Offering extremely good value for cars such as the 20/25 and 25/30 Rolls Royce in the guise of a 650-19. The 440/450-21 and 475/500-19 tyres are not just vintage tyres suited to Ford they are also great value for a wide range of vintage cars from both sides of the pond. The range also includes the vintage Wards Riverside 30-3½. This tyre has the unproven claim of being the most common tyre in the world in 1927, because it was the easiest Ford Model T tyre to get your hands on in America due to the Montgomery Wards catalogue and department stores that supplied the US with pretty much everything, including Tin Lizzie tyres.

Dunlop Sadly make no genuine vintage tyres or classic tyres for road cars. There are a few period Dunlop tread patterns on tyres made by other companies under licence. However Dunlop themselves do not manufacture them. They have also released a range of tyres called Dunlop Sport Classic. Sadly they are not proper classic tyres. They are modern tyres made in a few classic car tyre sizes. Generally we would suggest fitting a proper classic tyre, such as a Pirelli Cinturato, Michelin Collection tyre (such as XWX, XAS or XZX) or even the Dunlop SP Sport or Dunlop Aquajet, (that Dunlop are currently having made under licence) would be preferable to the Dunlop Sport Classic range.

Where Dunlop do excel is their extensive range of historic Dunlop Racing Tyres. For years now Dunlop Racing Tyres have been a mainstay of the historic racing scene. Not just because they were very popular tyres in period, but the FIA recognise them as their control tyre. This is because Dunlop Racing Tyres have continuously maintained an extensive, all-inclusive range of tyres in their 204 compound. The 204 compound historic Dunlop Racing tyres can handle racing, while at the same time offering reasonable longevity. So if you want to go racing in your vintage Type 51 Bugatti you will start off with plenty of tread depth, you may even find you get a full season’s racing out of a set. However what is important, is that the Dunlop Racing Vintage Tyres will return better lap times than any of the budget alternatives. It is not just Vintage tyres that the Dunlop racing range includes. The R5, CR65 and CR48 tyres of the 1950s & ‘60s are also used by the FIA as an excellent way of levelling the playing field for classic cars on a race grid that can be 10 years apart in development so the consistent 204 compound of the Dunlop vintage racing tyres helps make for a good race. Also worth noting the Dunlop Racing R1, Dunlop Racing 5-Stud and Dunlop racing R5 (on 16” wheels and taller) are road legal.

Classic Tyres

Avon make a small range of historic road tyres, such as the Avon Turbo Speed crossply tyre, for early David Brown Aston Martin and Rolls Royce Silver Cloud. Fortunately, Avon Also make a few crossply Turbo Speed for cars that would have originally fitted a Dunlop RS5 such as the 5.90H15 tyre for the Austin Healey. However many of these cars today want a radial tyre to make them more compatible with modern high speed cruising road conditions so they fit a tyre such as a radial Pirelli Cinturato, or Michelin XAS or XWX. Avon Also make a small range of budget classic radial tyres for those who want to stick with the brand Avon. Avon also nicely fill a niche with their small range of Avon Tourist HM tyres. They make a 4.50-17 for the Ford Pop and Morris 8 of the 1940s, and a few 16” tyres 5.25-16, 5.50-16 and 6.00-16, which we often recommend as good cross ply tyres for more proletariat cars of he ‘40s and ‘50s.

Avon CR6ZZ is an excellent road legal range of modern race tyres that are produced in various sizes and used by high power classic cars on the track. What makes the CR6ZZ range stand out is that they have a very robust carcass with rounded shoulder that compliments the chassis set up of a classic car on the race track. They also offer an extensive range of tall tyres for wide 15” wheels.

We offer an extensive range of White Wall Tyres from the likes of General, Firestone, Goodrich, Hankook, etc. The range of tyre sizes and white wall sizes is extensive. There are white wall radial and crossply tyre construction, which offers something for everyone. However, it is worth pointing out if you do have a European sports car, there are few more vulgar things you can do to your car than fit a white wall. It is understandable with a big American car, but if the handling of your car is something you value, then stick with a proper period tyre from a performance tyre manufacturer such as Michelin or Pirelli. If you are determined to fit a white wall tyre, but do want to maintain the handling that a period sports car offers we can also arrange to have a white wall built into the carcass of a tyre of your choice.

The Pirelli Collezione range of tyres, is a more recent range of classic and Vintage tyres, which is expanding nicely. Pirelli offer the correct and original 125R12 Cinturato tyre for the vintage Fiat 500, 6.00V16 Stella Bianca for cars like Maserati A6 and Ferrari 250 Europa, the crazy wide 345/35R15 P7 for the back of a Lamborghini Countach, and the tall 205R15 CN72 which was the largest tyre that could handle the power of the supercars of the Mid 1960s and was fitted to cars such as the Ferrari 500 Superfast, Maserati Ghibi, Lamborghini 400 GT and Iso Grifo. The Pirelli range also now offers a pretty comprehensive range of classic Porsche tyres from the 165R15 CN36 for early 911 & 356, to the 16” P7 tyres for the 964 and 928 of the 1990s. Two sizes of P700-Z have been added to the collezione range for the UR Audi Quattro, as well as a small range of the P5 tyres that Jaguar asked Pirelli to make for their luxury cars such as XJ6, XJ12, XJS and XJ40 of the late ‘70s and 1980s. The Pirelli Collezione range also includes the P7 Corsa Classic; road legal tyres for classic tarmac rallying.