History Old snow tires: Pic/info thread

WOW does this make me feel ancient!
Snow tires were much better when you had rear drive, studded tires were better than just snow tires, studded tires with CHAINS were the ticket in real snow and particularly ice.
I drove a cab in the 70's, snow tires on all four wheels when it snowed or froze ( in Portland), my various big ol' boat cabs had no trouble while amateur drivers with regular tires were crashing or getting stuck!
THEY WORK GREAT!

 

Even the rich folks used 'em - '51 Caddy, Minneapolis area in 1952:

 

And you'll probably like this ad - especially with that great music score:

 

my avatar pic is my year round daily driver. usually gets some modern "winter" tires. makes a huge difference even without any additional weight in back.

i got a bit nostalgic for a time i don't remember a few days ago. was down at the local big box home improvement store, and in the lot was a barn fresh looking 68 or so Challenger, nice patina without any serious rust, R/T graphics, hood scoop, mild rake thanks to long shackles, etc...and skinny knobby old snow tars!

 

This was an aquisition by a Hamber a while back...It created muchos conversation...Wonder what came of it
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/when-is-ugly-to-ugly.1014188/​

 

My former project
Winter Ready...






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To get over the pass between here and Seattle in the winter when there is snow on the road you either have to have snow tires, all wheel drive or put tire chains on.
First snow you can bet people will be lined up getting the snow tires put on, or buying new ones.
Here is one I have holding up the axle for my boat tail roadster. 2 pinstripe white wall with a sawdust or walnut shell impregnated recap snow tire.

I've had that wheel and tire over 30 years and the tire was old when I got it.

 

As others have said snow tires have always been a necessity in snow zones. Many lives have been spared due to these. They say a worn snow tire is better than the best all season. Different rubber for lower temps. Back in Hamb days stuff was bias ply so it may have been just more aggressive tread rather than rubber composition. As for the Hotrod crowd alot of cars were built on very limited budgets and it may have been money was tight. I have seen many bias tires worn till they look like slicks. Also yes they may have gripped the road better for certain purposes and some drivers may have used these instead of summer tread. One thing for certain they are noisy...

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/...m-days-gone-by.428585/page-3936#post-11764180






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WE had to use snow tires in winter because all our cars were rear wheel drive, no posi and no salt used on the roads. A bias ply tire makes about 1/2 as much contact with the road surface as a newer radial tire. We needed aggressive tread snow tires to bite through the snow into the road below. Putting extra weight in the trunk or back of your pickup helped immensely.
I had a 47 caddy sedan with snow tires that would pull a tree over in the snow...had a blast driving it out in the country [Oregon] to get our Christmas tree. We always invited another couple along for the extra weight....never got stuck.

 

MId 50's Firestone ad

 

This thread is really quite amusing.
Yes there is some history around the old snow tires and when you live in a winter country like Canada they were a necessity to have on when winter rolled around.

Today we have actual winter tires that are vastly superior to all season tires or ever to the so called all weather tires.

I have a set of them on my truck, all 4 fitted with tungsten/steel studs.
An absolute necessity when going from Alberta to the west coast and going through the mountains in the winter.

Or even just on icy city streets.

 

What's this snow thing y'all speak of? Don't see enough of it around here to buy anything special for it. :] Idiots around here have enough trouble driving on dry pavement, special tires wouldn't do them a lick of good on snow for sure!

 

You wouldn't BELIEVE how LITTLE traction bias ply tires have on the back of a rear wheel drive vehicle in snow. I mean, there were times I couldn't get out of my own driveway if it was covered in ice, and it was only about 100 feet long and 6 inches higher at the road end.

Snow tires, and couple of sand bags in the trunk for traction were a necessity to get around.

 

Yes, and in those two-wheel-drive days you learned pretty quickly that if you wanted to get anywhere MOMENTUM was your friend.

 

Yep, once you're moving STOP FOR NOTHING

 

so, what exactly are "recaps"?

 

basically a worn tire is ground down and a new tread outer layer is vulcanised back on. as a kid with no money the recaps were a quarter the price of a new tire. still done today.

 

interesting. never heard of that being a thing but good to know.

 

The old man always ran recapped snows on his cars and would get two full seasons out of them. I remember him running chains more often during the second season. He was pretty thrifty.

I'm Ray C's son, Kevin.

 

Studded snowies were always the best in my experience. Had them up to two trucks ago and they never let me down. Had to have them off by April otherwise you'd get ticketed.

 

Even the recaps had the holes to put studs in. Remember you used to be able to by a box of studs and a tool to put 'em in at all the parts stores? An older buddy of mine ran studded snows year round for sparkling burnouts. He was a crazy bastard, anyway. Almost died several times riding with him. Learned things like not to turn the steering wheel while airborne first hand from him. What a ride that one was!

Kevin

 

I love driving in the snow with snows on. I rmember one time I got stuck in traffic on a level road and the snow was coming down and my battery was dead. My girlfriend/wife asked if she should get out and push. No thanks, I just started shifting my weight in the seat and after a few tries got it rolling to the point I could jump start it. My dad taught me always to start off in the snow in second gear; avoids spinning the tires. On my modern car I sometimes turn off the traction control and even with the snows I can still make doughnuts!

 

In Ontario studs were only legal for about 2 years. I know they were invented long before but we only got them around 1967 and they were banned in 1969. The reason was, they chewed up the roads too bad. A couple of years later they invented studs that did not chew the roads but I don't think the ban was ever repealed.

 

I've got a pair of never run snow tires up in the rafters in the garage. Plan on mounting them on some 40 Ford rims I have, just for fun...

 

I plowed snow for many years and a vehicle equipped with old style snow tires will out perform the so called winter tires. The rubber used was a softer compound but it got harder over time as all rubber does. An old trick we used to increase traction on dirt track tires was to spray gasoline on them. I also used this on conveyor belts. When new, the surface was smooth and material would slip. A little gas softened it giving it grip.

 

Here is an aggressive old 16" snow tire on my Son's 25 DB Coupe before restoration and another pic after.

 

As the others said , the tire or Casing as the old timers was ground down and a new layer of rubber was vulcanized on with the tread of choice. When I went to work for Firestone in 1971 a big part of the business was in recap tires and the trade in tires had real value as the ones that were bald but in good shape were sent back to the recap shop to have new rubber put on them. While a new Firestone Deluxe champion sold for about 25 to 35 bucks for a6.50 15 a recap went for around 15.00 In the 50's and early 60's there were recap shops in about every town and you could actually drop your car or truck off in the morning and pick it up at 5 with fresh recaps on your tires if you had made an appointment. Radials didn't/ don't recap well though and that pretty well was the end of most of the recapping/

 

The tire/recap shop in the town I grew up in would buy good casings from me for like a buck or buck and a half a piece, which I thought was pretty good at the time. They showed me what to look for in a good casing and I'd pick thru scrap tire piles that people used to dump all over the place around here. It made me gas/play money.

Kevin

 

...I've drawn a few...