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My car had no spare when I purchased it but I was fortunate enough to locate one on evilBay and had it shipped from CA to Melbourne.

Sure is a strange looking beast and I'm wondering if anyone has ever either inflated one, or had to use one as an actual spare tyre?

Seems to me that the tread section is quite tight and that if it was inflated and the sidewalls of the spare folded up and created the 'balloon' that the treaded section would have to stretch terribly to accomodate the fully inflated final diameter.

Also, once inflated, how does it go down again. As it loses air presure, does the tyre naturally regain it's compressed state and fold the sidewall back in upon itself?

Finally, how does one inflate it? I'm aware that the car would have had a canister of air and have seen pictures of such, but in this modern era, all of these inflation canisters appear to have adhesive in them and are more designed for roadside repairs rather than just inflation.

I know off road motor cycles use small canisters of Co2 to inflate tyres on the fly, but these are very small and it would take a dozen to inflate a car tyre.
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In all honesty, you probably should have just saved your money.

It will serve nicely as a get-some-points item at a Concours where originality matters, and will fit nicely in the round recess in the rear tub.

BUT YOU SHOULD NEVER INFLATE IT !!!!!

Do not even entertain getting an air canister to allow the use of that spare. Do not ever fill it with an air hose.

If Oz rules demand you have a spare and demonstrate its serviceability, seek out one of the later-model car spares - the ones that look like motorcycle tires.

The original spare tire's safety was at best questionable when they were new. That tire is now over 35 years old.

Clean it up nice and pretty, put some wax on it, and leave it home in the garage unless you are showing the car.

What to do for a spare? Most of us here carry a cell phone, a AAA auto club card and if really paranoid, a tire plug kit and some fix-a-flat cans or small 12 volt compressor.

Larry

P.S. - YOU SHOULD NEVER INFLATE IT !!!!!
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Am I right in presuming that the outer band must stretch as the sidewall folds out?

Logic dictates that it must, but I have .... never inflated one. Wink

They were quite common on the Mustangs, and are highly sought after for proper originality.

Other makes used them, not just Ford.

Reproduction canister labels are being made, but no one is doing a repro on the tire, as far as I know.

No idea what, if any, spare was fitted to Euro market cars.

Larry
Do you have a canister or good photos of one?

I presume it has an outlet where a schraeder valve goes, and maybe a charge port?

Did they come with a transfer hose or simply push the canister tip against the valve?

I've seen the labels on evilBay, but the pictures of canisters are not good at all.

I was considering making a canister, using an old fire extinguisher and getting a label for it and keeping it with the spare for 'show and tell' days.
The spare tire is just for vehicle regulations in the 70's. The spare will work on the front but not on the rear.As a spare on the rear, if you use it for any lenght of time you will ruin you ZF trans.Two different size tires on the drive axles doesn't work. The early P cars had the spare tire placed in the front compartment, till they figured out in a front end collision the spare tire became a missile
and ended up in the cabin. I have heard stories of the air cannister exploding from the radiator heat. Larry put me in the paranoid group , my P car road side emergency repair kit weights about 40 pounds! Chuck
I carry around a tire plug kit, a pair of pliers and a small air compressor. I've had to plug many tires because of nails or screws. Had to do it in the parking lot at work or at the store. Always got me out of a bind. Doesn't work if you manage to cut/slice the tire, but you can deal with a puncture easily enough.
THere was a recall on the original 14" x 6" BFG collapsible spare back when the Pantera was still in production. The second version was safe to use and are still available fror wrecking yards in Ford & GM cars. A good tire shop can mount one on any wheel you want to run. It came on a stock 6x14" steel Ford wheel identical to those in Galaxies, station wagons etc. The rear tub has a boss in the center with a molded-in steel insert for a long threaded rod with a big conical washer to hold the spare firmly in the tub's depression.
The spare will fit in the front trunk even with a stock battery position. Ours has been there for decades, but I drilled the front trunk floor for a safety hold-down rod. The drilling goes thru the floor and the steering-rack mount fabrication so the 3 layers of steel are strong enough to retain the wheel in case of a crash.
And as far as the inflater can exploding, thats true but only for those aftermarket ones that are filled with PROPANE as the propellant! Such cans are really hand-grenades that have 'cooked off' in both front and rear trunks from heat, causing much hood/decklid damage. If your inflater can label says 'DANGER-EXTREMELY FLAMMABLE!', put it gently far away from your car and get one that does NOT say 'flammable'. Finally, the inflatable spare will re-collapse to its original size after use, but being a sort of two-ply inner tube with tread, its only useable for maybe 50-60 miles. Your Owners Manual says, '50 miles distance at 50 mph or less!' It fits either end in an emergency but because of its non-matching diameter, used in the rear the limited slip clutches in your ZF differential will rapidly wear away. On the front, handling will be "interesting". I have run nearly 100 miles on one (porous Campy, on a Sunday) and while we got home, we also lost the ZF's limited-slip function. Finally, NO full-sized tire/wheel front or rear will fit in either trunk if you have a problem. Carry a couple of bungee cords to retain the partly open trunk lid as you crawl home. Or convince your passenger to share the 2nd seat with the tire/wheel....
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The original spare in my '71 has a yellow sticker. It is on the front (outside) of the wheel. There are two sets of paint marks on the back side of the wheel, about 180* apart. They are white and purple.



I didn't notice that in the picture above, but the 4 paint dabs should be on the back and the stickers on the front, at least for Panteras
That looks exactly like the kit that came with my Mazda RX8 (which doesn't have a spare tire).

When I take my Pantera out for more than a few hours I always toss that in the front trunk or behind a seat. Fortunately I have never had to actually USE it, so I can't vouch for its effectiveness, but I can say I FEEL safer having it along for the ride. I also carry a couple of cans of Tire Saver goo, just in case.

Mark
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