Goodyear tire history: the missing piece of the puzzle

[my427cobra]

Hi all. I need your help.

I am nearing the end of my research to write an article for SAAC on the history of Goodyear tires on the Cobras.

I've accumulated countless pictures, a fair amount of data and had the wonderful opportunity to do a face to face interview with JL Henderson, the VP and General Manager of Shelby Enterprises, and the Goodyear Race Tire Distributorship.

One piece of the puzzle still eludes me:
In those iconic pictures of CSX2000 being assembled in Dean Moon's shop in Feb'62,
What were the tires on the car?????????

The best photos show a tire with 6 tread groves and a smooth shoulder. No sidewall markings are visible.

Then an early publicity photo of CSX2000 shows a very clear image of the same (or similar) tire and the sideway detail is visible and says “Speedway Special”. It also appears to have the Blue Streak circumferential rib on the sidewall and a ribbed shoulder.

Then in the earliest road test, printed in Sports Car Graphic, May ’62 (the road test was supposedly done barely days after Shelby completed CSX2000 in early Feb ’62), the Cobra is pictured on tires (Goodyear Speedway Special) with the same (or very similar) tread pattern on the tires in those pictures from Dean Moon’s shop and for the first time we see, in the Spec Table, the tire sizes: 6.00x15 F and 6.50-7.00x15 R. In the narrative, there is no mention of tire manufacturer or type.

So, do any of you historians and early Cobra experts know or can confirm what those tires were on CSX2000 at Dean Moon's shop?

Would certainly appreciate the help so I can fit the last piece of the puzzle.

Cheers
Greg

[LMH]

I thought it had Dunlop tires at Moons shop but I'm not sure of that. Here's a pic that shows the tires pretty well.
Larry

[CompClassics]

I would have to agree that the "as delivered" tires on CSX2000 were probably Dunlops, Shelby was on a shoe string budget at the time and replacing already new tires with another brand would have been an added expense that he could not justify until the car was operational and met expectations.

[427sharpe]

Wasn't CS a Goodyear dealer--would have written the tires off as promotional expense, or had them donated by Goodyear as advertising. I think it more likely that the tires at Moons were of English origin just because that's what the AC folks had available. I read the OE tire on the ACE was a Michelin 5.5 x 16. See BEX350; 1958 Bristol in concours winning condition:

[427sharpe]

A bit of googling found this, which may help you:
AC Ace | Longstone Tyres
AVON Turbosteel:

Dunlop Tourist:

[427sharpe]

Check this one out: the Firestone Zig Zag tread (?) Looks very close to the photo above IMO:

https://www.cokertire.com/550-16-fir...blackwall.html

And also like the tires on an early CSX at Thames-Ditton, ready to ship stateside:

[Dan Case]

When CSX2034 came out of long storage one of its British Goodyear made tires had this tread. A potential buyer of the car sent me this picture back then.

[427sharpe]

Dan hit it; I read the article on CSX 2000 in R&T and saw:

"This is the original Cobra, still with its original 260 V-8, still with its original 4-speed manual transmission, still with its original wire wheels and still wearing U.K.-built Goodyear Motorway Special tires, size 6.40-15 in front, 6.70-15 in back."

I searched the tire and found no pic, but did find this:

[Dan Case]

Cobra wise there were British and American versions of street and race tires 1962 through 1965. I know some about the most common ones but SAI used many different casing designs and many different compounds.
British Goodyear Motorway Specials
American Goodyear Sports Car Specials in at least two different tread patterns in 6.00/6.40 size.
Goodyear G8 tires (stock for 5.50 wide wire wheels) in 7.35 size.
Goodyear Power Cushion (a roughly 65 series aspect ratio) 7.35 size after the change to 6.00 wide wire wheels
Goodyear British Goodyear made 7.35 street tires on some very late Cobras, similar to the Power Cushion design
Goodyear Sports Car Specials in 6.50/6.70 size in both standard and lightweight versions; the light weight versions have the raised letters LW molded into them
Goodyear Speedway Specials in 6.60 size for tracks like Kent Washington (also used on front of Ford GTs very early after SAI was assigned GT40s to make into winners)
Goodyear Stock Car specials in 6.50/6.70 and other sizes in various treads and compounds (6.50/6.70 also used in early GT350 racing)
At least one late car got 427 Cobra 8.15 Blue Dots
One late car was invoiced with a set of 7.75 GT350 Blue Dot tires

There are others I just don’t know their identity. Very little about Cobras is simple. My notes on "COBRA" engines is about fifty pages long. My notes on electrical parts for just CSX2201 and later cars is almost twenty pages. Tires are a tough subject because so few have survived. I have or have had or had access to examine most of the versions ever used on street cars that were made in the USA.

[LMH]

Does this happen to be CSX2000?
Larry

[Dan Case]

Originally Posted by LMH

Does this happen to be CSX2000?
Larry

Yes, at AC Cars during its build.

[LMH]

It doesn't appear to be the same tires when it was a Moons shop though. Tread looks different.
Larry

[Dan Case]

Originally Posted by LMH

It doesn't appear to be the same tires when it was a Moons shop though. Tread looks different.
Larry

The tire shown at AC is one of the versions of Sports Car Special by Goodyear. The optional street and race front tire for early CSX20xx cars was a 6.00/6.40 GYSCS. When "race" tires were chosen they were used with "race inner tubes" also by Goodyear. The old original inner tubes are rarer than the tires. Most of the race inner tubes also had high pressure metal stem caps, which could also have been made in either England or America. I have the 6.00/6.40 Sports Car Special spare race tire, tube, and cap from a very early Cobra.
One topic often over looked is outer tire diameter for rear wheels. Street Cobras were fitted with large diameter tires early on all four corners. A works drawing shows a 27 inch rolling diameter and 3.54:1 final drive gears. The 6.50/6.70 GYSCS tires were down to 26.0 inches in OD and the 7.35 GYPC tires most Cobras were fitted with were only 25.5 inches in OD and the cars came with a 3.77:1 final drive gear. That is just a sampling. SAI used all kinds of diameters and all kinds of gear ratios in racing.

[cobrajeff]

Here are a couple pictures of the 6.50/6.70x15 Goodyear Sports Car Specials on CSX2008. These appear to be the very same tires it was shod with in early Ford promo shots.

[my427cobra]

Thanks for the input guys.

I've looked very carefully (with a magnifying glass) at all those photo's, photos of the Goodyear tires of the day and countless other photos from every publication and internet site I could get my hands on.

And I pretty much concur with everything posted here

I've even got stuff from the Goodyear archives at the U of Akron.

And I agree with your input that G8's, Motorway Special tires and others were used on CSX 2000 after the Dean Moon shop midnight assembly thrash in Feb '62.

But CSX2000 in the Dean Moon shop photos is a challenge, as the tire in those photos has a smooth shoulder, while the Motorway Specials had a heavlly ribbed shoulder with alternating Goodyear "diamonds" between the ribs.

It has been suggested the tires may be a British Dunlop. Could be as shipped from AC factory and Shelby didn't take time to change them in his excitement and rush to get CSX2000 on the road.

The search for enlightenment continues.

Cheers
Greg

[my427cobra]

Oh yeah. And Dan Case pretty much hits the nail on the head with his listing of the tires used on the small block Cobras.

And as he says, nothing was simple. Because there was little consistency or documentation kept. And many Cobras pictured in those period photos may have had customer spec'd tires on them.

An then of course there was the white wall era!

And a few other surprises I've uncovered that will be in my full blown article.

Cheers
Greg

[my427cobra]

LMH. Your pic of CSX2000 at Dean Moon's shop is pretty hi res. I can almost, with a magnifying glass, read Dunlop on the sidewall.

Might be my eyes playing tricks on me.

Cheers
Greg

[my427cobra]

Yup 427sharpe and Dan Case. I took Dan's photo from post #7 and lightened it up a lot and you can see the shoulder ribs and alternating diamonds between the ribs.

So that pic/tire is a Motorway Special.

Cheers
Greg