Firestone tires from Firestone ??

marty in Ohio

marty in Ohio

Well-known member
Last week I stopped in at our local Firestone store to ask if they could get me some 19 inch tires for my 1930 Town Sedan. The man at the counter told me to order them from Coker and bring them in to have them mounted. I told him I would mount them myself, I just wanted to buy the tires from Firestone. He said he could get them for me but he would order them from Coker.
What am I missing here?
Marty
 
Nothing...That's who makes them and supplies them now. Just order from Coker and be done with it OR have your Firestone guy order them and they will jack the price up anyway.

Pluck
 
My guess would be that Coker has licensed these tires from Firestone and is the sole distributor, might be a liability thing as Coker says these tires are for display only yad yada ...
 
marty in Ohio said:
. . .What am I missing here?
Marty
Click to expand...

There is a general consumer misconception that the handful of tire brands you can name are made in plants they each own. The U.S. Dept of Transportation (DOT) issues codes to tire manufacturing plants. That code must appear molded in any tire sold in the US. There are currently 950 worldwide plant codes!

The brand name on the side of the tire only tells you who originally designed the tread pattern. As there is essentially no commercial retail outlet market for antique tire designs the original designs are generally subcontracted, licensed, or sold to secondary distributors (like Coker) who in turn contract with one of the 950+ plants to produce that tire.
 
And to add just a little more, Bridgestone bought Firestone around 20 years ago. They throttled back the product lineup and focused on licensing the Firestone name. Our Model A tires are licensed, and some of the muscle car tires. Bridgestones focus is on the automakers.
 
As long as they were made in the USA, then I don't care which plant made them.

I understand that the Model A Firestone tires are molded in the actual molds used in the era.

So, who makes the Goodyear tires? Apparently not Coker.
 
P.S. said:
As long as they were made in the USA, then I don't care which plant made them.

I understand that the Model A Firestone tires are molded in the actual molds used in the era.

So, who makes the Goodyear tires? Apparently not Coker.
Click to expand...

Actually, the Firestones made today are the same as those available around 1950 and have little in common with the originals.

John Kelsey (Kelsey Tire) makes the Goodyear tires and did a great job duplicating the originals.

Original Firestones:

firestone-2.jpg


A-1130-C.jpg
 
On this subject, I have been using the super cheap tires from Vietnam. They were OK until I put them on my heavy townsedan. I had severe YAW and could hardly keep the car on the road. I tried everything, but changing to a new set of Firestones did the trick.
 
Marco Tahtaras said:
Actually, the Firestones made today are the same as those available around 1950 and have little in common with the originals.

John Kelsey (Kelsey Tire) makes the Goodyear tires and did a great job duplicating the originals.
Click to expand...

Wow. Yes, those Firestone tires look much different than the ones available today. Thanks, Marco.

Understand the Goodyear tires are supposed to be very close match to Model A originals. Good to know they're made by Kelsey. Should be a quality product.

I am forced to be shopping for tires for the 99.9% original 29 fordor now as the 50 year old Sears tires are just about cracked to the point of unsafe at any speed. Only gripe about the Goodyear tires is having to paint those little flags on all of them. What colors do they use? I cannot tell exactly in the pictures of your roadster I took a couple years back.
 
Thanks, Mitch!

I also notice the Model A in Marco's photos has the hub caps with the little ridge around the outside edge. I thought the originals were smooth all the way to the edge. Did the car in the photos have repro hub caps? Or, do the original 30-31 hub caps have that ridge around them? Or, it is an optical illusion?
 
I think it is an optical illusion.I think you are seeing the raised part of the wheel as a ridge in the straight on picture.The picture Mitch posted shows that up well.I have Universal tires that look just like those pictures of the original Firestones.
 
P.S. said:
Thanks, Mitch!

I also notice the Model A in Marco's photos has the hub caps with the little ridge around the outside edge. I thought the originals were smooth all the way to the edge. Did the car in the photos have repro hub caps? Or, do the original 30-31 hub caps have that ridge around them? Or, it is an optical illusion?
Click to expand...

That is a pre-production photo. I don't have the date on that one but it's typical of photos taken in September 1929. Yes, these experimental hub caps had the flattened perimeter.
 
Marco Tahtaras said:
That is a pre-production photo. I don't have the date on that one but it's typical of photos taken in September 1929. Yes, these experimental hub caps had the flattened perimeter.
Click to expand...

Excellent. Thank you.

Just making sure I'm doing this correctly.
 
didn't one version of the Goodyear tire have two thin white pinstripes around the circumference of the sidewall, which gave them a neat look, or is that what I am seeing in Post No. 10?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top