Not sure I understand ..., they couldnt? Rockford would have done much better and felt more comfortable in a good running sneaker
Back when everything, generally, was a "whitewall" or "blackwall" world, whitewalls were a sign of affluence and more upscale than "standard" blackwall tires. Redline, and gold line tires, were only on things like Corvettes. This was well before white letter tires came out in the later 1960s. But even white letter tires looked out of place on a car with a soft suspension (not always including Chrysler products in the process). Wheel covers vs. dog dish hubcaps, too, etc. That's the generation I grew up in.
As noted, it all depends upon the vehicle. But things became "different" in the later 1980s when the "Euro look" became popular. Blackwall tires and decreased amounts of shiny trim. An incognito way of cutting production costs, I suspect. Be that as it may.
As for the "shoes" comment in cops 'n robbers shows, I was watching "The Mod Squad" last night on Decades channel and the classic foot race happened. Everybody in dress shoes, so not sure what tricks they did with those smooth-soled shoes. Possibly like the Chrysler suspension system allowing greater things to be accomplished with mundane "shoes"? This pre-dates Rockford by 7 years. And the main characters drove Chrysler products (one of the few tv shoes that Ford didn't supply vehicles for, back then).
I'm aware of what repro tires cost vs the newer 17" sizes, as I consider options for my own cars. One looks better with white letters than blackwalls, but others need to have some sort of whitewall to look right to me. Be that as it may.
As for television shows and movies, as there is an Interned Movie Database, for plotlines, actors, and such, there is also one for CARS too. Put in the make of car and it'll bring up the respective movies and shows they were in. Pretty neat!
