1968 Monaco 500 New Owner!

[chocorua]

Bought a cool summer driver last month and so excited for next summer when I get behind the wheel. It just got shipped to its winter hibernation yesterday. It’ll need new tires come next summer. Any pros/cons about going wider? Big car, needs big wheels! Maybe 235 front, 245 rear? Same size all around? What’s the widest possible (w/rear fender skirts)for these huge 2 door coupes? Thanks for any help.

 

[HWYCRZR]

Nice Burgundy Metallic , same as my’68 Polara. Looks like it already has the upgraded 15” tires and the correct white walls.

Search tire and wheel survey. Or what size tires fit. On this site and you will get 1,000’s of different opinions.

 

[bronze turbine]

I've been watching that very car for months. Congrats on your purchase. I hope you have a lot of good times with it!

 

[mrfury68]

Very nice score. One of my favorite colors on a C body. Such a classy looking ride.

 

[CBODY67]

Nice car!

As to "Big car needs BIG tires"? The car will weigh less than about 4500lbs with TWO people in it. They might be 14" tires, but look on the sidewall near the bead and you'll probably discover that the weight carrying capacity of those LITTLE 14" tires is OVER 6500lbs at 35psi. So, no reason to put "big tires" on it just to carry the weight. With the base curb weight being just a hair under 4000lbs, you'd have to have the car weighted-down to where it was on the bump stops to get near the total tire weight-carrying capacity. Even with the stock 8.25x14 size equivalent modern tires.

Now, when I was looking in Hankook's website last night, they DO catalog 14" whitewalls in the P215/75R-14 size. Seems like Nexen had some too. NO need to head toward the repro tire sellers for those tires.

And yes, the car will handle just fine with those 14" tires with the pressures of 32psi frt/30psi rr. You might be surprised at how well they do. Just need some quality HD shocks to help things along.

IF you are not used to driving a power drum brake car, "easy on the pedal" is operative. Once you get used to it, it'll be good.

Enjoy!
CBODY67

 

[chocorua]

Nice car!

As to "Big car needs BIG tires"? The car will weigh less than about 4500lbs with TWO people in it. They might be 14" tires, but look on the sidewall near the bead and you'll probably discover that the weight carrying capacity of those LITTLE 14" tires is OVER 6500lbs at 35psi. So, no reason to put "big tires" on it just to carry the weight. With the base curb weight being just a hair under 4000lbs, you'd have to have the car weighted-down to where it was on the bump stops to get near the total tire weight-carrying capacity. Even with the stock 8.25x14 size equivalent modern tires.

Now, when I was looking in Hankook's website last night, they DO catalog 14" whitewalls in the P215/75R-14 size. Seems like Nexen had some too. NO need to head toward the repro tire sellers for those tires.

And yes, the car will handle just fine with those 14" tires with the pressures of 32psi frt/30psi rr. You might be surprised at how well they do. Just need some quality HD shocks to help things along.

IF you are not used to driving a power drum brake car, "easy on the pedal" is operative. Once you get used to it, it'll be good.

Enjoy!
CBODY67

Thanks for that info! Good to know. For me it’s about aesthetics. I just think some nice wider tires would look great. I’ve got some time to think about it.

 

[CBODY67]

Thanks for that info! Good to know. For me it’s about aesthetics. I just think some nice wider tires would look great. I’ve got some time to think about it.

Thanks for the information. As to tire width, the widest tire that went under the pre-1969 C-bodies was a 9.00x14, which was the "station wagon" OEM size. Multiply that by 25.4 mm and that gets the modern section width.

As to wheels, either some repro 15x7 Rallys (as 1970 or so B and E-bodies had, with center caps and chrome lug nuts), some repro Magnum 500s, or some VN-501s (15x7, 4.0 or 4.25" backspacing) would look good. Whitewalls could be OEM with the Magnum 500s, but in the 14" size, back then. To me, P225/75R-15s would be a good tire size, in whitewalls, as to the diameter of the tire and how they fit the car's look. Power disc brake cars got 8.45x15s, for which the P225/75R-15 is the equivalent size. To me, any of those wheels with whitewalls would spiff things up a bit while maintaining the luxury/sport orientation of the car. I'm not a fan of white letter tires on such cars, unless they came that way OEM in later years.

Where did you find the car? Just curious.

Enjoy!
CBODY67

 

[chocorua]

Thanks for the information. As to tire width, the widest tire that went under the pre-1969 C-bodies was a 9.00x14, which was the "station wagon" OEM size. Multiply that by 25.4 mm and that gets the modern section width.

As to wheels, either some repro 15x7 Rallys (as 1970 or so B and E-bodies had, with center caps and chrome lug nuts), some repro Magnum 500s, or some VN-501s (15x7, 4.0 or 4.25" backspacing) would look good. Whitewalls could be OEM with the Magnum 500s, but in the 14" size, back then. To me, P225/75R-15s would be a good tire size, in whitewalls, as to the diameter of the tire and how they fit the car's look. Power disc brake cars got 8.45x15s, for which the P225/75R-15 is the equivalent size. To me, any of those wheels with whitewalls would spiff things up a bit while maintaining the luxury/sport orientation of the car. I'm not a fan of white letter tires on such cars, unless they came that way OEM in later years.

Where did you find the car? Just curious.

Enjoy!
CBODY67

 

[cbarge]

Congrats! Nice car!

 

[chocorua]

It was for sale in eastern PA. Found it on classic auto trader. Wanted it for my summer vacations up on the lake in NH. Great roads all around for a cool cruiser with character.

I’m a fan of VN-501s or Magnum 500s, I’ll choose one or the other. I agree on whitewalls over raised white letter as well

 

[HWYCRZR]

Magnum 500 look great on this body and were an option in’68 (at least in 14”). I will have to look in the accessories book to recall the 15” road wheels for’68.

 

[CBODY67]

Only 15" wheels for 1966, 1967, and 1968 were for factory power front disc brake cars, which had their own wheel covers. Magnum 500s on Chrysler products were all 14". Ford had the 15x7s on some big-engine Mustangs.

 

[cbarge]

I went with the 25 inch Magnum 500's.
Looks stock, and the 23570r15 tires are 28 inches tall.
Excellent ride and fills out the wheelwells..
Tempted to swap9 them on Grace,my 67 Monaco 500

 

[chocorua]

I went with the 25 inch Magnum 500's.
Looks stock, and the 23570r15 tires are 28 inches tall.
Excellent ride and fills out the wheelwells..
Tempted to swap9 them on Grace,my 67 Monaco 500

View attachment 621930

View attachment 621931

Wow those Magnums look great! Thanks!

 

[cbarge]

Wow those Magnums look great! Thanks!

Got them through Summit Racing.
15x7 with 4 inch backspacing, and zero offset.

 

[Ross Wooldridge]

My vote for your beautiful 68 Monaco 500 are the chromie Magnum 500s as @cbarge has on his car. Best wheel for these cars, hands down!

 

[RemCharger]

Nice car!

 

[Fratzog]

From one 68 Monaco 500 owner to another, nice score. WRT wheels and tires mine rides on 235/75/15s all around with the road wheels and later centers.

 

[chocorua]

From one 68 Monaco 500 owner to another, nice score. WRT wheels and tires mine rides on 235/75/15s all around with the road wheels and later centers.

WRT is a tire brand? What does “with the road wheels and later centers “ mean??

 

[Ross Wooldridge]

Later centres means that while the wheels stayed basically identical, for styling purposes over the years, various types of hub covers were used, and so the wheels he is referring to on his car are equipped "later" versions.