Hi and thanks to all for your suggestions...

Regarding tire size, I just went out and checked the original owners manual for my 1983 and my wife's 1980. Both are DL models. From the manual it says both DL models use 175R14.

Now I am getting old and my memory isn't what it used to be. But as I recall I was told (when getting my 1st set of replacement tires for the 1983 - didn't have the 1980 yet):

* The only maker of the original size was Pirelli - which is what came on the car when I bought it new. And these were, even then, hard (and pricey) to find.

* The tires available for replacement (of which there were many options then) had a different profile and that these would affect the speedometer/odometer if not careful in choosing size carefully since those meters are driven based upon assumptions about the tire's overall diameter.

* The closest was 70 profile and I was made to understand that the profile expressed (at least in part) some form of ratio of tire width to tire diameter. Therefore, I had to go wider in concert with the lower profile of the 70 tires in order to keep close enough to the overall tire diameter expected by the meters.

That's how I recall it all. And I have just run the same, 195/70R14 since then and when I got the 1980 for the wife and needed tires, I just did the same there as well.

I have checked, for example, Pirelli's website and for my 1983 they recommend 195/60R15! And I can see that 15 inch tires are far more available than 14 inch. But I am not ready to go that route on these old bricks.

Meanwhile, I did ask the folks at IPD for their suggestions and the chap (Kevin Albrecht) who responded quickly and with a lot of detail (thanks) said he was happy running Kumho Solus TA11 which it appears I can get at Tire Rack and Discount Tire. I had never heard of this brand before and still know nothing about them save that Kevin (and bulletproof here) have found them at least adequate for their bricks.

Cheers and thanks again.