I remember when if you wanted black walls, you put the white wall on the inside.
Been there, done that 
Whitewalls were always a bit of a chore to keep looking white rather than dungy grey. I think my truck came with whitewalls when it was new, but canât recall that far back.
Me too.
I also remember a period where you could buy a special paint to paint your own whitewalls.
And, of course, way back when there were whitewalls separate from the tires that mounted pinched between the rim and the bead.
That reminds me of another story regarding my wacky ex-boss. (The guy who would only buy gas for his Buick a few dollars at a time because, "If you tell them to fill the tank, they will cheat you. 
)
AnywayâŠwhen he ordered his next carâan Oldsmobileâhe insisted that the rear-window defogger and a few other items be deleted in order to save money. When the car was delivered, it had black wall tires, and he refused to take delivery until the dealership installed white wall tires. Clearly, some folks haveâŠunusual⊠values.
Wacky appears to be an understatement.
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Thatâs interesting to know. But I suppose there must be a market for them in the 'retro" crowd.
Portawalls - One more thing to add to my list of things I donât need.
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They wouldnât look right on my car. But I saw a restored antique pickup today on which they looked beautiful.
Yes, but, in reality would that truck have sported whitewall tires back in the day when it was new?
One of the gripes of a columnist for Hemmings Classic Car is that seemingly EVERY restored car from the '40s, '50s, and '60s now has whitewall tires, but when the car was new it is entirely possible that it rode on blackwall tiresâespecially if it was a low-end model.
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Highly unlikely. In those days pickups were sold as work vehicles, with only the most basic functional things on them. And they were dirt-cheap. How they came to be fancy is beyond me.
It was a Ford, with the âV8â symbol in the grill. And it sounded very, very sweet with only a modestly enhanced camshaft inside. Just the right amount of burble.
I would say it happened gradually
Iâm 45, and I remember the trucks when I was a kid were for the most part quite plain. Sure, some of them had cloth seats, alloy rims and power windows, but there were no leather seats, premium sound systems, navigation, and so on.
Same thing with suvs. They were initially very utiliatarian, but times have sure changed. My brotherâs suv is much better equipped than most luxury sedans of just a few years earlier
Well done. 
Advertising does not depict base models although the 3 small pictures in the first ad have black walls.
Maybe 10 years ago, I bought some tires that had RWL. Couldnât get them in blackwall. So I had them mount the tires with the RWL to the inside. Not sure if that would work very well now with the prevalence of wheels you can readily see through (to the other side)âŠ
Interestingly, many supercars come with white lettered tires, yet that practice hasnât revived itself in regular tires. Perhaps we all got tired of trying to keep the white clean?
I bet I still have a 1/2 filled bottle of Westleyâs Bleche-Wite stashed away somewhereâŠ
LOL, Iâll bet itâs cured in the bottle by now!
That does bring back memories!