I have an old Michelin installed on a wheel I purchased. looks like it could be original equipment. I don’t think they date coded the tires back then. Anybody know what tires the factory installed on our cars?

Not sure about 914s, but a lot of other German marks (VW, Audi) came stock with Continentals.

i had a 1972 with an original spare tire... it was a dunlop
but thats only one car... do not know if they changed providers on different model years.

not sure about earlier cars.
but at a certain point in time in the early 70s they were pretty much coming out of the factory with dunlop SP57 as standard equipment. at least for north america.
my 74 had them still on it back in 89. not a bad tyre at all back in the day.
a mate of mine has a 76 911 (aus delivery) that he has had since new.
he took the original cookie cutters off it way back in time with the orig tyres still mounted and they are in his shed. dunlop SP57s as well. i think porsche had a deal with dunlop during those years as the basic factory fitment.

higher up the pecking order if you look at photos of the silver 914/8 of dr. porsche its always had michelin XWX on it and still wears them today. the 916s also seem to have had them originally. super duper micheline rated for the high speeds the cars were capable of.

but you could also order your tyres to suit from factory.
and a lot of cars had michelin XZX which were lower down the pecking order than XWX and an equal alternative to the dunlops.

the closest thing to the tread pattern etc of the SP57s are the XWX but repro XWX do not come in the skinny 165 tyres these days that every day 914s originally had. only come in wider 185 size.

and of course you could still get the legendary XAS tyres on your 914 if you wanted them. a slightly earlier late 60s tyre that was and still is fantastic. even better as a repro than originally due to a softer compound these days.

you could really get almost anything back then.
if you ticked a box. pretty much the same as VWs.
i know that in australia back in the 70s a lot of VWs came from the factory with Semperit tyres. great little tyres but a brand name that seemed to disappear from the world back last century.

My car, 1972 914 with appearance group, came with Dunlop SP57s in 165/15. One of my friends bought a non-appearance group car from the same dealer (Alpine P-A) at the same time, his had Michelin XZX in 155/15. Another friend bought his appearance group 914 in 1972 while stationed near Hahn air base--his car was equipped with 165/15 Continentals. So yes, a bit of a mixed bag.

You care about being factory correct? They are garbage. They age hard!!! Get with the times. There are so many better options now. Are you trying to be a concourse weenee? If so, I hand you a hall pass. Do you drive it? At some point you have to realize the times and get reasonable tires.

in my case i would have to do something about the wind up elastic band 1.8 in my car.
i reckon fred flintstone could beat me away from the lights.

but being serious for a moment.
the repro XAS 165s on mine actually sh$t all over the 195 b f goodrich i had to fit at one stage. seriously sh$t on them. more grip. but probably have a total life of about 10,000 miles. dunno what they are made of but its not 1970s formula rubber.


but i know what you are saying.

however you don't have to be a concourse nutcase to want to put orig size tyres on.
i got other newer cars for wrecking the road. these days i reserve my 914 for a period experience - not experience from looking at static-ally but D R I V I N G in capital letters.
but kind of going back in time. could be something to do with getting old and being overcome by nostalgia.

Love your sense of humor. Respect.

yeah.
the old jaffa gets to lead a semi peaceful life except for the odd lapse of restraint because of this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGyY9V068x4

harry's garage.

mine is the moment just before the one he has got with the solid strut front end.
ie not a trophy. don't think any trophy versions came to aus.
probably just as well i don't have what he has or i probably would be attempting to log in to 914 world from the afterlife.

apparently harry still has this car. he "gave" it to his son but i see it still parked in his shed next to all the other "rubbish" he flogs around in his more recent videos. it lurks there ever present.

i religously change the tyres on mine every 5 to 6 years and replace them with exactly what it came with or whatever the michelin factory pumps out as the official upgrade.

i tend to use my 914 as a way to drive more calmly when i need to meditate.

According to the COA, my '70 -6 came with Dunlop 165/15.
When I bought it 7 years later, it had 185/70-15s on it. What I remember as being unusual was they had tubes.
I later replaced them with Vredestein 185/70-15s, ran those for many years.
Still have 185/70s all the way around.