Decided to go with 17x8's on the front and 18x9.5 on the rear of my 71. I can get whatever backspacing I want so I'm guessing 4" up front and either 4.5 or 5" in back. Sound good to you guys that have been down this road before?

P.S. The wheel stores keep pushing me towards 17x7 up front but I really like the look of the 8's. Will I be sorry because the tires will rub?

Thanks for your help!

My 69 SS has 2 inch dropped spindles up front and Hotchkis two inch drop springs in the rear. I used Hotchkis sway bars front and rear, Hotchkis adjustable uppers and lowers in the rear and polyurethane bushings. I have ZERO wheel hop and the car handles very well in the corners, feeling comparable to my 97 Z-28.

On the rear I have 18 x 10 inch wheels with 6 inches of backspacing. If your car body is centered on the frame you can go to 6.25 inch backspacing and 305 wide tires. If you go to 17 or 18 inch wheels the 6 inch+ backspacing just puts the wheels outside of the contact point for the shocks in their stock location. I have 295/45/18 tires that are 28.4 inches tall. The tires fit fully inside the wheel wells.

I have a 2nd set for the rear that I have my 305/45/18 Nitto drag radials on (28.8 inches tall). They are 18 x 10's with 6.5 inches of backspacing. I had ford type c-clip eliminators (Dutchman) welded onto my rear end and they added .25 inch outbound to both sides and the Baer rotors put some width outward too. I have no clearance issues that a couple of minutes with a hammer did not resolve. I had to clearance the very rear of the inner tirewell about 1/16 inch.

Up front I have 18 x 8 wheels with 5 1/8 backspacing front with 255/45/18 tires (27.1 inches tall). I used a Hotchkis sway bar up front as it has a tighter radius on the turns at the bushings that is needed for the 5 1/8 backspacing. Use 5 inch or 4 ¾ if you use a stock sway bar and you should still clear the fender on a sharp turn. It is a balancing act up front with dropped spindles.

Thanks for all the info Redrum. I may need to contact you again later in my build.
Happy B'day, you're one day older than me!

I would run 17x8's with 4.5"-4.75" backspacing and the 18x9.5's with 5.5".
Tire sizes that will work with that combo are 245 or 255's in the the front and up to 295's in the rear.

Thanks Clint, I think that would work pretty nice!