12/19/09

There was some recent discussion about the difference between the original Safety 800XP dual redline tires and the current reproduction. Unfortunately, there are gross differences between what came on these cars originally and the reproduction. I suppose something is better than nothing, but it's disappointing that so many details were missed in the replacement mold. The edge is wrong, the lettering is wrong, the red color is wrong, the placement of the red rings is wrong and the tread pattern is even wrong. NOS dual redline on the left, repro on the right. The repro is a well-used one as can be seen, about 10k miles on it.








Here are some pictures of the rear carrier. I found a few markings, which can be seen in the pics. This is the original carrier from the convertible, it has December '64 casting dates. The tag reads WCZ-H 3.50 5AA 921. The WCZ-H code is found in Ford documentation to be 3.89:1, but as can be seen, that is not what shows on this original tag. On the door warranty plate for the car, a '5' code is there, which is for the 3.50:1. I suppose this could have been a an assembly blunder. Unfortunately, the ring and pinion had been replaced, so I don't know what was there originally. Someone put a 3.25:1 gear set in, D2UW numbers on the ring gear. There is no damage to the housing or carrier, so I assume a prior owner simply wanted to go with a smaller gear.