History The Mystery Of The Illuminated Goodyears

Maybe the power source for the wheel lights??

 

Maybe make tires in different colors other than black.somebody would buy them.

 

I remember them on the cover of Popular Mechanics in 1960 or 61. They showed them in red, they were molded in one piece with no cords.

 

Power wire for the illumination lights. Notice the ring on the wheel hub.

 

Long time ago (HS days) I had a 57 Dodge Coronet, like this one and wanted to put lights behind the wheel covers.



Thought of drilling a small hole through the spindle and making a wiper contact for the power lead.
Also thought of using a coupla "C" or "D" cells in a holder behind the wheel cover, but was concerned about imbalance.
Short of those ideas, lighting within the front wheel wells
Nothing came of it.

 

Chargin03,

It's actually very easy to do, but they won't last nearly as long. Tires are black because carbon black is added to the rubber compound (which is naturally white). The addition of carbon black greatly extends tread life and UV resistance, hence why you almost never see white tires on cars like you did in the early days of the automobile. Also why white walls sometimes crack and fall apart before the rest of the tire. Seems like someone like VHT came out with tire paint a while back, but never saw it on anything, so no idea how it looked. I think the general buying public (me included) is just too accustomed to black tires at this point!

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I wonder if they could do them in a blacklight version? Sorry, I am an unrepentant child of the 70's.

 

Thanks Blownfuel

 

Someone was and maybe still are making coloured tires as I have seen them on some tuner type cars in the past I think the ones I saw were red. They looked a bit weird being as you are so use to seeing black tires.

 

Looks like China's Double Star tires is making them, but I can't find any news after 2011. Must not be selling that well?



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The import crowd has made black tires that smoke in different colors.

 

That's kinda interesting, too bad they only seem to come in lame import sizes. I can just see a set of colored smoke slicks on the back of a nostalgia FED! Now THAT would be a photo op!

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These tires actually did exist. When playing just after dark in the front yard of my folk's house in Indianapolis in the very early 60's, a Chrysler product came down the street with glowing tires. Almost a little scary looking. For years I'd started thinking this was just the silly little dream of a 5th or 6th grade boy. Glad this article proved my memory correct! Never saw them again after that night. And I'm absolutely sure I never saw those legs that night!

 

I was thinking that it's shit like this that I love the JJ/HAMB, and a poster says almost the same thing. I'm thinking that lady was checking to make sure you weren't blowing smoke up her ass about your fancy tires. This look is crazy cool, neon lights under cars are wannabes next to this effect. I wonder what whitewall tires or porta walls made with reflective colored vinyl would look like at night? Or you could paint the whitewalls, (Krylon Fusion) and sprinkle reflective beads in them.

 

Hey, And Ryan and the JJ got a mention on the Hemmings daily email digest today.

 

Looks dangerous to me... Look how smooth that pair is.

 

OK, Been There, Seen That! 1961 Darlington SC Southern 500. Camping in the infield for the weekend around midnight noticed a car circling the track with no lights. All 4 tires could be seen glowing red. You could tell it was a convertible.
The next morning an announcement was made asking if you saw the Dodge with 4 lighted tires circling the racetrack.

 

Maybe I can illuminate the issue.
I worked for a number of years in the tire industry.
On one job where I was the cub there was a gentleman whose name was "Harley" but he was not Harley Earl. He had worked for Firestone and Goodyear among others.
He had worked on the illuminated tire project for one or the other, I seem to recall that Firestone had gone this route as well.
Tire construction involves fabric (body ply, belting) metal (bead wires) and a host of rubber compounds. Oil, wax, sulphur, resins all find they way into the mix for the different properties they bring to the dance. Building a tire is not a simple molding process. The carcass must be built up from several layers of nylon, rayon, steel and different rubber caps. The rubber on the tread in not the same as the rubber in the sidewall or on the inside of the tire.

Anyway, what Harley shared with me was these tire were made from Urethane. Instead of a green tire carcass being loaded into a mold these tires were injection molded. Saves a lot of labor. The problem was that Urethane had very little pavement grip and when cold became very brittle. Also since there were no body plies the tires tended to buckle if you cornered very hard.

Just call me a one post wonder. Good night.

 

Don't give the Honda boys and Donk guys any more ideas.

 

I started a thread about these tires a few years back, and got replies and links for other threads that had been started, also asking about these, so thanks Ryan for answering this question.

 

With LEDs & Li batteries, this could work today with just the outside sidewalls and a black inside. What the heck are nylons & garter belts- some kind of radial tire?
Boy, I forgot how bizarre, even for the '50s, the Saharas were. Cute, but haven't aged well...

 

Oh yeah, did this guy have any idea whatever happened to the tires & what the name of the company that came to them was?

 

Succinct!

 

Cool. Strange, but cool!

 

I only came to check out the legs!

 

Just a follow-up, but here's a photo of the same car in the daylight.