tire size question

[48streamliner]

What current street tire size will come closest to matching the 6.50 x 16s that originally came on my '48 Streamliner? I assume that I will not be able to match the high sidewall height with a modern generally available tire, but would like to get as close as I can. Thanks! David

[Larry]

I checked Coker and they have quite a few 6.50 x 16 tires available. Other vintage tires companies probably do also. I bet someone even has a radial to that spec. Do a Google search for "vintage tires" and you will find a lot of choices.

[50scars]

There is a lot of discussion about whether radials will cause failure of your rims, or not. My personal thinking is that since radials supposedly cause less wheel fight, they should cause less stress on the rims, too. There are people who's engineering opinion I respect who disagree. I have run G-78-15 belted bias tires on my 51 for 36 years.