Nicholson used Vogues too. The Atlas Bucrons came from Standard stations. Had a greenish protective coating on the white wall that scrubbed off with an SOS pad. We called them "green walls". They were the shit until Inglewood Tire started capping cheater slicks.
In California Atlas Bucrons were sold only at Standard and Chevron stations (one was independant owned and the other were company stations) as far as 10,000 miles go thats B.S. no biased ply tire would last over 10,000 miles. the Bucrons wouldn't last 500 miles of strip or street racing. they would smoke for about 30 feet get hot and hook so hard it was like shifting gears if you didn't blow a rear end or drop a drive shaft. they were standard oils most expensive tire but still cheaper than the 75 dollar Vogue Tires that Dyno Don ran on his Chevys from 59-62 EDIT. I didn't read page two. all this has been covered so I'll second it .....Jim
In Michigan we had Standard gas stations, not Esso. This is where we bought Atlas Bucron tires. You were lucky if the tread lasted a few hundred miles, or maybe one Sunday at the drags. I remember only whitewalls. The Standard stations also had those cool red plastic crown valve stem caps, shaped like the glass globe on top of their gas pumps. We didnt burn Standard gas back then though, nothing but Gulf Crest. The coolest looking tire was the Kelley Springfield Celebrity whitewalls of course.
Chevron white pump 104 octane "Custom Supreme" was the westcoasts only choice for 13 1/2 compression street racers. not cheap at 36 cents a gallon in 1960-62
Up into the mid 70's they were the hot lick to run on your dirt track car at Heart of Texas Speedway in Waco. The guys I worked (JT Carpenter and family) with were always hunting them out for their race cars then. They were sold new through the service stations that were connected to Standard oil in one form or another.
In Indian we bought these tires for the Standard stations, I had them on my '62 BelAir "bubbe top" , used them only for street racing , damn thing would bite, but you would pull the rubber off of them . Their name to fame was that they were "round" thus giving you a good ride.
Ran them on my 427 powered 57 Ford in 63. They were about 4 inches wide with 2 grooves, one on each side all the way around the tire with small sipes down the middle. I was lucky if I got 2000 miles out of a set. Werent much but everyone ran from a slow roll back then on the street. As soon as Casler recap cheaters came out thet were history
After reading all the ESSO refrences all I could think about was the joke about the bee that was traviling with his friends. they all stoped for a brake at a shell station but he went to the ESSO station. so the punch line was theie is allways one ESSO BEE in every croud. Some racers from lasiter mountain drag strip worked out of the North Birmingham Esso and their altered ford was called the ""ESSO BEE"" I always refered to those atlas tires a axel breakers..
I worked at a Humble station back in the middle 60's we stocked Bucrons,but never sold many.They were expensive and wore out fast,but man would they stick. Recently I bought some deadstock tires, 5 of them were 9.50/14 Bucrons, 2 blackwalls I sold that same day to finance the deal, 2 Monza whitewalls I put on a 61 Mercury Meteor 600 and sold,, That leaves me with one wide white.
SOHIO was the Standard oil in Ohio. They had Bucrons. Firestone also had a Butyl tire, which was call a Butylair (the spelling could be wrong).
Mopar34 Esso,Exxon, Standard Oil in the state of Ohio at that time were named Sohio but sold all Atlas products , Atlas Bucrons ,wiper blades,brake fluid. Back to the subject at the time excelent traction tire but no mileage. Beat the crap out of a set of them myself. Good memories!
I have posted some pictures of a never mounted 750 X 14 Bucron on one of my websites. I started working in Standard Stations in 1962. The first tires I sold was a set of Bucrons just like this one. They didn't wear worth a darn but they gripped the road like glue. The ride was soft but the tires did make some road noise. Hope this helps. Let me know if you have any questions, Jim go to: http://www.636utah.com
E.J. Potter, The Michigan Madman, was'nt he "known" for using Atlas Bucrons? In high school, 66-69, I worked for a Standard Chevron Dealer. I remember Bucrons as being the-bottom-of-the-line, cheapest tire, we sold, but I don't remember any droves of hotrodders coming in to buy them. I also don't remember them being anything but blackwalls. Butch/56sedandelivery. Oh, I went to Meadowdale High School, and I worked at Meadowdale Chevron.
As I remember it the Milepak blackwall was the lowest cost tire, then the GripSafe, the Plycron, the Pacesetter(it may have been a little later when this came along) and the Bucron (always whitewall). I know when I sold Atlas tires the Bucron was the most expensive and I sold them to a few "fast cars" of the time but mostly I put them on Buicks and other big cars.
reminder: ESSO stood for S.O. Standard Oil - all the Essos etc were derivatives of Standard Oil and most were renamed after the big Trust-busting of Rockefellers Oil company. Atlas tires were made by any of the majors and were handled by the stations already mentioned as a "company" tire. Chevron dealers were privately owned Standard Oil stations. We used Bucrons all the time. Where I'm from you couldn't buy slicks, but you could buy Bucrons...a bit pricey, but I pumped gas at a Chevron all through HS, so the supplies were a bit cheaper. Very sticky tires. dj
guys if i remember correctly enco turned to exxon? esso was a different company. my uncle had a enco station that changed to exxon in the early 70's.
Ahhhh, the good old days............I found out about Atlas Bucrons from my first service station job in 1964......Domian Standard Service in Ladue, MO. The owner (Gary) drove a big Cadillac with them, and changed them about 2 times a year. His customer base was big cars.....Cadillacs, Continentals, big Buicks and Olds, all owned by the high rollers in the area. They supplied a ride like being in your overstuffed coach. The takeoffs when they bought new became the "had to have" tires for the local hot rodders. They were literally soft enough in the tread, you could leave a fingernail impression. The dirt track guys ("jalopy cars") would search out every Standard station for miles looking for take-offs for their cars....they claimed they would hook better than anything else out there. I remember scouring the junkyards for them, and selling them to the racers to make a buck and finance my hot rod projects. Simple times....where did they go? Thanks to the originator of this topic......brings back a lot of great memories.
I'm old enough that I should remember these, but they really don't ring a bell at all. I thought that the cheater recaps were already commonplace at the time stated that these were produced. The pics sure look cool! I think these could be awesome on the right car.
I remember cutting many a grove in them as a young kid, they were the tire of choice in the early 60's in OKC on Super Modified's.
My father ran Atlas Bucron's on his '61 Starliner Super Stock car in '61-'63. He said they would really hook. He also bought them at a local Esso station. He said during the "active" street & drag racing season he would replace them about every two weeks.... I'd love to see these repoped today.
The Jalopy Journal
