CLASSIC STYLE PIRELLI
If you’ve tried to buy a period-looking tyre recently in the once-popular 185/70 14-inch flavour then you’ll know that there hasn’t been a suitable fitment on the market for a while.
This has now been rectified by Pirelli’s reintroduction of the classic Cinturato CN36 in a V-rated specification and available from classic tyre specialist Longstone Tyres. Back in 1968, the CN36 was one of the first of the then-newfangled low profile tyres on the market and today it’s a low-profile alternative for cars like the MGB and many Alfa Romeos which originally ran the narrower, taller 165R14 tyre. The 185/70 is a wider tyre but offers the same rolling radius as the original size. Also, being developed with a carcass specifically suited to lightweight rear-drive cars of the ’60s and ’70s, it’s designed to provide progressive handling. Also, as Longstone’s Dougal Cawley points out, the CN36 looks pretty cool.