Great restoration — thank you for posting about your experience! The seats look perfect, can you tell us more?
This said, have you considered whitewall tires for your car? IMHO they would be more in line with the original spirit of your car, plus the Hankook Optimo H724 are really comfortable. Lots of members have only great things to say about their smooth ride and low noise level. I swear by them after about 3k miles on two C-body fusies in two years (disclaimer: I have no idea how they drive in the rain, as all but half a mile were driven in dry weather).
Here is
Medina, my '71 Monaco last spring. Like your '71 Newport, she has a white vinyl top that the WWs complement perfectly (and a white stripe, but the previous owner is responsible for that
).
If you are set on RWL tires, here are my two cents. I went through the same dilemma (Cooper
vs. BFG) for
Snow White, the ‘70 N-code Polara convertible that I bought three months ago. I read a lot of RWL tire reviews on various sites. I went for the BFG, but it was a hard decision—FWIW, my conclusion at the time was that the difference in terms of performance was not great, namely they both were pretty mediocre tires that I’d never get for a modern car (I should probably duck for cover here, as some members really are big fans of the BFGs
).
I have not yet driven Snow, so can’t comment personally yet on ride/handling/noise. I expect th BFGs to handle fine but to be less comfortable than the Hankooks. Here is a picture of Snow with the freshly mounted RWLs -- I chose to post this pic, despite the poor interior lighting, because it shows both the side and the tread of the tires. I am still not "sold" on the looks of the RWLs for anything other than a Hurst or SFGT, so even for this sporty car with road wheels I may well switch back to WWs after this summer.
just like the total restoration...
