Hey PlymouthyAdams ... porta walls?

[Los_Control]

I seen a post today  ....

 

11 nos 14 inch Port-a-wall wide white walls. Some what yellowed due to age. Free to good home. No shipping. Picture is current disregard date on pic. Steve 469-474-6189

 

I just thought possibly with your collection of vehicles you might enjoy them .... where else can you find 14" porta walls?

 

If I put them on my Wife car ..... I would probably be looking for a new wife.

Not for me but still something pretty cool no longer available.

[Sniper]

Interesting, they still make them. 

 

http://www.portawallshop.com

[Los_Control]

I need to apologize, I had no idea they are still being made.

 

I really must live a sheltered life.

When I was 16 years old, I started working in tire shops. All the way until I was 33 years old.  90% of the time I was retreading semi truck tires, I was still around tire shops.

I closed the retread shop earlier then the tire shop, so I walked my daily paperwork over to them then they sent it to the corporate office when they closed.

Just saying I was around tires everyday for years.

 

Not once have I ever seen or held a portawall.

I know they exist, I only hear of a few people using them .... I'm thinking these must be rare as hen's teeth & only survivors are still around. .... Seems I was wrong on that.

 

So I thought it pretty cool to see the nos available for free. ..... Now I see if I were to pick them up, not worth the price of shipping to send them.

They are actually very reasonable for new ones shipped to you. ..... I had no idea they were still being made.

 

I actually think they would be pretty cool for using modern radials & have the old car look .... both of best worlds while many would know ... who cares.

[pflaming]

I had a HS friend who painted his white walls. When they showed the least amount of wear, he would remove the tires and totally redo the paint. He was very particular. when the roads to school were muddy, he would come early, go to the local car dealer and wash his car before he came to school.  I do recall the porta white walls. 

[Los_Control]

Just now, pflaming said:

I do recall the porta white walls. 

I think they are a part of history of HotRodding or just car history period.

So they were not OEM  they were after market .... many things were.

[pflaming]

I bought a new 63 chevy !! Station Wagon. That was a GREAT car. I ordered it with a car rack and porta white walls. I couldn’t afford real WW’s. We had a thick soft blanket in the back and lots of toys for our two children. Would be thrown in jail for that today.

[Sniper]

20 hours ago, Los_Control said:

I need to apologize, I had no idea they are still being made.

 

No need to apologize, I had no idea they were still being made either.

 

20 hours ago, Los_Control said:

I actually think they would be pretty cool for using modern radials & have the old car look

 

Same here, been planning on going with Moon Discs on the 51, then you mentioned portawalls and I got to thinking that might be something to think about as well. 

[kencombs]

 I think the flexy sidewalls of radial tires may be a problem. 

[Los_Control]

15 hours ago, kencombs said:

 I think the flexy sidewalls of radial tires may be a problem. 

I have read a thread on another forum the op posted when he got to a car show, the portawall would stick out or flex out leaving a gap in one spot.

I remember some others reply was they used some sort of glue to just stick it to the tire ....  replace glue as needed, seemed to be a minor issue.

 

I just did a little checking on this myself.

http://www.portawallshop.com/

They sell 2 widths for a 15" tire. 1-3/16" ... 2".   

I measured my 235-75-R-15 on my truck.  2" from the wheel up the sidewall ends right before the bulge on the sidewall. So it would lay or have a good chance to lay flat.

 

Looking at my neighbors abandoned Ferd, I measured his true bias ply wide whites.

They measure 3.25" from the wheel rim. It does overlap the bulge in the tire, where the portawalls end before the bulge.

 

 

My conclusion on this little thought process. The modern portawalls are not as wide as original & made for modern tires.

They will not look exactly like the old originals. .... Wide.

 

@Sniper would need to sit & consider this. Imagine this car with radials & a 2" white wall? ...... Might look cleaner then it does now. .... At least better then plain radial black wall?

 

This car has a late 90's Ford FI 302/AOD with all stock drum brakes, bias ply tires. Just a pain to drive as the tires follow the grooves in the road. You come to a stop sign & car pulls left one time, pulls right the next time .... We know radials would improve drive ability 100% .... A  fatter tire & A shorter 2" portawall may look better?

[Sniper]

I am running P255/50R17's, so a short sidewall, 2" wide whites might just be the ticket.

 

Now about that Ferd, looking for a rode for my son...

Edited September 6, 2022 by Sniper

[Los_Control]

Just now, Sniper said:

Now about that Ferd, looking for a rode for my son...

I feel sorry for this car .... Neighbor bought it I'm thinking for a occasional toy to drive & thinking he made a investment he will sell later making lots of money.

I went through the complete cooling system for him asking him to now drive the full tank of gas out of it .... then with fresh gas I would do a tune up, check the brakes & weld in some support for seat belts. ..... Take it out & drive it, bring it back next week with a new tank of gas. ..... I parked that car where it sits over 2 years ago & has not been moved since. .... Gas in the tank is almost 4 years old.

 

While the car is I believe a older restoration with the interior 20 years old, paint etc .... Original radiator & suspension etc... Someone did a good job.

 

Someone later installed the modern engine/trans & their work sucks. 

The bigger transmission the floor needs to be cut out and rebuilt so the engine would sit level.      As is, when I changed the oil, I installed proper amount of oil .... The stick read 1 quart low because the engine is at such a angle.

 

Sniper would pull his hair out looking at this work ..... I almost think since nothing major was butchered, might be easier to drop a older transmission in it and fix the issues with it.

As is the owner thinks it is a goldmine and is not for sale .... Will wait another 5 years then look at it.

 

 

 

[Dan Hiebert]

I've got a decrepit set of port-a-walls on the ol' Terraplane.  They probably looked pretty good when new but now only look OK when the car is going down the road and you're watching from behind the dirty windows of your house.  I've no idea how old they are, a good guess would be about 50 years old.