Recently read or saw in a video, the tire tech hadn’t advanced to the point we really are today.
It sounds funny but they couldn’t make the walls strong enough (and cheap enough) for typical production vehicles like today (if my memory is correct!) that’s why today cars have much “shorter” looking tires
I should have been clearer, I meant the wheel and tire combo. They look like they belong on a much smaller vehicle. And I was alive when this car was new and my memory of it doesn't look like this lol.