Fella's I got an issue. Looking to buy this '63 galaxie 500. The tires are bias ply and shot, so I have to buy new tires, the problem is they are J 78-14. I've been to countless tire stores and they all say there computers don't go back that far in year and claim there is no chart that says J 78-14 = P2**/ 7*-14. Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

coker tire on the internet..make reproduction stuff. JEGS and year one may also be of some help. would go with radials though.

Though not certain, I'm guessing that the original tires were 8.00 or 8.25X14s, though it will vary depending upon engine options, etc.

Perhaps, an old tire store can cross reference the even older OEM size.

Dean

J78-14 crosses to 225/70 R14 from a web site I used to figure out what tires for my "72 Dodge Polara. I know everyoen one here will say go with radial tires, but if you don"t have power steering, my opinion is to stick with bias ply. I have radials on my "48 DeSoto and my "56 Plymouth. I hate them. I listened to the "experts" and bought them. Both sets have only a few thousand miles, and when I get the $$$, bias tires will go on and these will go on the used tire rack. I drive thousands of miles a year in my "50 Dodge with bias ply tires with no issues at all. Drives and rides perfect. Use what the car and rims were designed for. Many times the radials are too wide for the older bias ply sized rims. On my "72, I used newer rims sized for radials. The current production bias ply tires are made with better materials than they were in the past.

If the engine is a 390 or bigger, it would spin those J78-14s for a considerable distance

Try this Kelesy's tire dot com. This guy owns the dies for most of the older tires and still sells tires for any older car you want them to fit and can/has tire tire that came out on them when new

Down the line you will probably restore the car. So you should research and buy proper tires now. My guess is narrow whitewall and an h78 would be fine. I never saw J78 on a factorey production car. My big wedge Barracuda came new with E70 polyglas goodyears.
But handled and raced much better with G70 up front and F70 in the rear. ( major understeer problem).

Used to have H7814 tires on the rear of my Plymouth with 14x6 rims and C7814 tires on the front with 14x5 rims. The C tires had 6.95x14 stamped on them.. eventually changed the C tires to 185R14s and the H tires to 225R14.

The computer probably doesnt show an H7814 tire either, it was a cheaper tire to replace the G 70 14, was a little taller.

You lucky dawg! Yeah, like elmersooner said, just type in cokertire and it will bring up their site. Enter vehicle info and they will show you what they have to offer.

Buy a Hemming Motor News magazine .There are several suppliers [like Coker] who advertise there.Somehow they offer brands such as Firestone.

My Dad had a '63 with a 390. If I remember correctly the tires were 8.25x14. On a wet road you could shift all four gears and peg the speedometer, without moving more than a hundred feet. Tire wear was pretty poor, 2500 miles and they were gone. Could have had something to do with teenage drivers. Gas mileage was ten or twelve mpg, if you were very careful, more like six or eight if you got after it all. AND, it used high-test, at 37.9 cents a gallon, instead of regular a 32.9.

I wrecked it twice in eight months, and the second time was the end. The first time was my fault, the second time some fool pulled a U-turn in front of me on a blind hill. His insurance Co. said it was my fault anyway because I was a teenager.

Dad bought the car for $1200, Insurance (ours) paid him $800, and he sold the engine and transmission for $400. So, except for tags, insurance, operating expenses and repairs from the first wreck, we had the car free for the whole eight months that he owned it.

I've bought from Coker before & I am quite happy. I'll be shopping there again this fall for tires for my plow. They do have a radial that looks kinda like a bias-ply & pretty neat at that. That '63 would look real sharp with Cragar S/S's, too. They looked good on my '62 at least.

Mike

my advice,if your going to restore this car over time,and its not already a driver,forget getting the right"size" tires for now.go down and buy some used up radials that will hold air and get it home.buy tires the last thing before you pullit out of the garage after work is TOTALLY done.bias ply tire will ruin setting still and not being drove,if indeed you plan on putting on the original type tires.lots of folks dont remember those old tires getting flat spots on them from setting.if you do buy these tires,and car sets for long periods,put car on jack stands and hang tires on wall,out of sunlight with weight off them.by all means dont mix radials and bias tires on the same car,makes one extremely squirrely to drive.

those tires would be G78 not j78 , dont even think that they would fit under the fenders without rubbing when turning. even the J78 were big for a 1/2 ton.

G78-14 went to P215/75-14 when we went p-metric back in 81...There were also a few H78-14 on some ford and buick wagons, but you'll never find a 225/75-14 out there now. Never saw a J in anything but 15".
One of the few manufacturers of 215/75-14 WW car tires is Hankook, available for about $80. Don't let some loser try to sell you a trailer tire in this size! Lots of trailers in this size, few cars any more!
225/70-14 (equivelent to the G70-14) fairfly readily available as it was OE on 2WD Ranger pickups even recently. Most will be raised white letter- most will be private label Cooper- and should run about $90.

Nope! Bought the car from the original owner. He said the spare tire was 100% OEM and had only been on the car twice. It is a firestone J78-14.

Car has a 390, 4 barrel with automatic. Bought the car from the original owner and his claim was the spare tire was the original and only been on the car twice. It is a firestone J78-14. This car is from Arizona and has 69,000 orig miles. Faded paint is the only cosmetic problem. Chrome is perfect and so is the interior. Even has the original dual exhuast.... The mufflers have the ford emblem stamped in them.

I agree with others that lettered tire designations were not yet used so the spare can't be an original.

I have searched but can't find when the letter designations came into use in the United States. I'm thinking in the 1970s or very late 1960s.

I had a 1963 Mercury Monterrey with the same engine. It had the the Breezeway rear window. One of our engineer's bought it new and traded it in on a new 1965 Mercury. It only had 10k miles on it. I tried to buy it from him for $1800.00 and he wouldn't sell it to me so when I saw him go by the shop with the new car I ask my boss if I could take leave. He said to go ahead and take leave and I went out to the Mercury garage nosing around until I spotted the 63 Mercury. I was sitting in another used car when a salesman came by and ask if he could help me. I told him I was looking for a car with low mileage. He said I just in a 63 Mercury with only 10k miles and its a one owner. He said he sold that 63 to him when it was new.

I asked him what he wanted for the 63 Mercury and he said $1800.00. I had a 57 Chevy that I had bought used and he wanted to now if I was going to trade the Chevy and I told him no. I called my wife and she came down and we took the car for a drive. The salesman asked how I like the car and I told I would like it better if it had AC. I said I will give you $1600.00 and he said he had to ask his boss. They took the $1600.00 and the engineer didn't believe me the next day when I told him I bought his old car. I said it's home in the garage. My boss told him I wasn't lying. We drove it to Florida in 1967 and it would cruise at 70mph on the Interstates with just a little effort. My wife used it for shopping and taking our daughter to school and I put studded snow tires on it in the Winter. Back then they didn't close the schools and she said those studded tires were very good on ice. They outlawed those tires here in MD. Hal

J78-14 = 8.85-14
Closest modern would be 245/70-14 or 235/80-14.
Tire conversion chart

good luck with those.....

The letter sizes were not used in 1963. It most likely had 8.25x14 tires from the factory. If you pull the rear seat out you might find a factory build sheet stuck in the seat springs. It is very interesting reading!