rearenginekarts.com

I saw this auction on ebay after it ended, but the photos are worth looking at (I've never seen NOS Firestone tires before), the molded in radius on the outside edge of the tire is neat....



more photos still up at completed auction:

Hey, Jeff, they looked so neat back then that Dad bought a set....didn't take long for him to remove them from his Wasp! They had absolutely no grip at all. I can't remember what he did with them, but they never went back on one of our rigs. I remember seeing them on an Xterminator in our neck of the woods, but with the Xterminator, there was no way to tell if the skins or the kart was at fault! There were other tires in the day, including some recaps, that had even more extreme crown shapes. I guess they figured that since they wore that way, why not start them out that way! Ted

Hi, Buds,

In 1960, my brand new, live axle Homelite Spitfire kart came with Goodyear hard-as-rock slicks up front and those same 12-inch-outer-diameter Firestones on the rear.

After three years of backyard bashing and a two or three races on the original Cuddebackville track, the Firestones were down to pure cord and the Goodyears looked almost new.

I have since been informed that the radius outside edge on those Firestone slicks meant that they were originally designed and sold as quarter midget tires. Shouldn't matter much, as they were truly awful tires, and completely mismatched to the equally awful Goodyears on my Spitwad.

Kinda makes me appreciate that Cheng Shins ain't so bad at all! They look okay, wear decently and fit the vintage profile correctly, and they work a whole lot better than my original tires.

Warmest...

I remember around 1961 buying some Sears Allstate Racing Slicks from the catalog and they had the same rounded outer radius. I wonder who manufactured them for Sears? I can't tell you how good or bad they were. I used them on a homemade Kart with a Jacobsen 2 cycle that didn't go fast enough to challenge their grip. I will say I thought they were really good looking.

I recall buying some Eliminator rears sometime in the mid/late 60's that had that same profile.
From memory the rubber was very hard and I ditched them after a shorted time.
Don

Hi,
I run a very similiar set of tires upon the rear of my Vintage Kart. They are called Contour Slicks. made in the shape to which they will wear...
Allan

You will get to see those tires in person on my Xterminator at the Big One next year. Thanks to all who did not bid on them.