The historical value, the fragility of mechanical components, complex maintenance, and environmental and regulatory restrictions that limit their circulation all mean that vintage cars are seldom used in everyday life. This leads to a moderate and infrequent tyre wear. In this context, the choice of tyres becomes crucial. They are the first and only point of contact between the car and the road: they determine driving precision, comfort, and safety. At the same time, they are also a strongly identifying visual element. The dynamics of the vehicle result from the interaction between tyre, geometry, and vehicle set-up. To achieve an authentic and optimal driving experience, it is essential to use tyres designed for that specific era and car model. Although based on the reproduction of traditional designs which faithfully replicate the exact shape of the classic model, vintage car tyres today are manufactured using the most advanced technologies and in compliance with modern safety and sustainability standards. For this reason, Classic tyre ranges are in fact of recent production and not, as is sometimes believed, leftover stock from warehouses.
When it comes to the main manufacturers of vintage car tyres, Michelin and Pirelli offer a classic range that directly reproduces their original designs. By contrast, Vredestein with its Sprint Classic design and Dunlop with the Sport Classic design each offer a single modern design that evokes a classic line, ideal for vehicles from the 1950s to the 1990s. Michelin’s offering pays homage to the past, to vintage cars and young timers, for which—throughout its long history—it has always supplied tyres with specific characteristics. From this philosophy comes the “Michelin Classic Tyre” range, designed to help preserve the heritage of vintage vehicles, considered not only as a collection of means of transportation, but also as a mirror of industrial and cultural progress in the twentieth century. The Michelin Classic range is the most extensive on the market. It starts with the conventional tyre featuring the DR (Double Rivet) tread pattern—first introduced in the 1930s with the original generation of beaded-edge car tyres; then moves on to models that have rewritten history, those with radial casings such as the X, ZX, XZX, XAS—launched in 1965, the first tyre with an asymmetric tread, allowing cars to travel steadily at 210 km/h—XVS, MXV, XWX, XDX, Pilot Sport, and TRX, created in 1975 which provides a more balanced distribution of stress throughout the tyre casing, hence the abbreviation “TR” for distributed tension. In addition to these, Michelin offers the Pilot Exalto 2 and Primacy 3, two ranges specifically designed for young timers from the 1990s to the early 2000s. 
Pirelli, for the most iconic vintage cars and young timers in history, offers the Collezione line: tyres that respect the originals in both aesthetics and driving dynamics, but are made with modern technologies and production processes to provide maximum safety and compliance to current regulations. The range includes everything from the historic Stella Bianca, launched in 1927, to the Stelvio, passing through the radial revolution introduced with the Cinturato CA67 (1951), the CN72 (1966), CN36 (1968), CN12 (1971), CN54 (1972), and the Cinturato P7 (1974), which stemmed from experience in the World Rally Championship—it was the first ultra-low-profile tyre introduced to the market. And furthermore, from the P Zero, which debuted in 1985 on the Lancia Delta S4 Stradale, to the P700-Z (1988) and P Zero Rosso (1999). The authentic look is maintained thanks to the contribution of the Pirelli Foundation, which preserves, in its archive, among other documents, the drawings and designs of Pirelli’s historic tyres.
