Automotive Picture of the Day - May 22, 2009.

[MycroftHolmes]

Newsweek; August 20, 1951. Click here to view a full-size readable image.

 

[Kruse]

Looks like the engineering had some black eyes after that. Lesse now, the 721 tires and the tires on the Ford Explorer come to mind. Cool advertisement, though.

 

[paul246]

Looks like a lot more brick on the track in 1951 than there is today.

 

[Samilcar]

They measured 18 psi on a "blown out" tire? Hmmm...

 

[javacontour]

Don't forget the Firestone 500. The 500 was for how many miles you would get out of that tire.

 

[paulo57509]

 Originally Posted By: javacontour

Don't forget the Firestone 500. The 500 was for how many miles you would get out of that tire.

I know someone that was running these tires on his '69 Riviera. They would wear funny, have bubbles in the sidewalls, etc. Hit a pothole and the tire would get egg shaped. It was not a problem getting new ones at the Firestone store. The problem was you'd just keep getting more of the same lousy tires.

 

[javacontour]

Fortunately for my mom, the Firestone store also sold Michelins, so she finally got put into a set of Michelins since it was probably cheaper for them to give her 4 of those instead of continuing to mount new 500's every other week.