<VV> How stock is Stock?

[peter koehler]

This afternoon my son and I went looking for some 
replacement tires up in the garage attic for my very 
original 1963 Monza sedan. Since I "upgraded" to new tires 
a few months ago I found out that my choice of 185x80R13's 
put this 16,000 mile original car in the "Street Stock" 
class under CORSA's rules. When I inquired about this I 
was told that the correct size tire could be purchased 
from one of our Corvair vendors. That is all well and 
good, but the new tires, whatever size would not be 
"original" to my car. Since my 1963, and every 1963 
Corvair out there was built prior to DOT standards and 
ratings that are required on all new tires, having these 
DOT markings on my tires - regardless of what size I 
purchased, could be considered a modification from 
"stock". Isn't it?

So Paul and I found some old N.O.S. 6.50x13" Goodyear bias 
ply tires that I have been saving for at least 30+ years. 
What better time than now to put them to use? I've got 
three Goodyear Custom Cushion 6.50 black wall tires and 
two in white wall. One of the white wall widths matches 
the three original 1963 Goodyear tires that were put on my 
car at the Willow Run plant by some member of the United 
Auto Workers back in May, 1963. So I can either have four 
Goodyear Power Cushion black walls, or three original 
Super Cushion White walls and one Power Cushion white wall 
tire, all of the same original white wall width. None of 
these tires have any DOT markings, so they should be 
considered original and should not move the car into 
CORSA's "Street Stock" classification. Unless CORSA takes 
exception to having three Goodyear Super Cushion (OEM) 
tires and one Goodyear Power Cushion tire on the car. Is 
that what the rules say?

It really doesn't matter as I am considering showing this 
car at the Bloomington Gold Survivor Car Show in St. 
Charles, Illinois the weekend of the National Convention 
in Cedar Rapids. The rules for Bloomington Gold say that 
you can not restore your car to a certification standard, 
but you can research it to that level. I just don't want 
to lose the chance to save this Corvair in the same 
condition as it was when it was assembled by General 
Motors in 1963. What do you think? - Research Pete in PA