First American Car with Factory Radial Option?

[Bob Stein]

Greetings, All! I am trying to determine if the 1967 Cougar was the first American car to offer radial tires as a FACTORY option. 185R14 tires are listed in my owner's manual printed January 1967 as an option. (FR-14s were offered as an option in 1968).

Anyone out there know if any other American car offered radials from the factory in 1967 or earlier? FACTORY documentation ONLY, not magazine articles or restorer's guides, etc.

Thanks!

[padgett]

Think the Continental MK III introed in April 1968 was the first to make them standard but may not have been first production.

[Dave@Moon]

I've been told at various times that the 1966 Pontiac Tempest Sprint and the 1967 Buick Skylark GS were the first American cars to offer radials as an option, but apparently documentation of that is very hard to come by.

Here's an interesting quote from an online history of radials ( History ):

Michelin first introduced steel-belted radial tires in Europe in 1948. Radial tires are so named because the ply cords radiate at a 90 degree angle from the wheel rim, and the casing is strengthened by a belt of steel fabric that runs around the circumference of the tire. In radial tires the ply cords are made of nylon, rayon, or polyester. The advantages of radial tires include longer tread life, better steering characteristics, and less rolling resistance, which increases gas mileage. On the other hand, radials have a harder riding quality, and since they are technologically more complex than bias-ply tires, they are about 45 percent more expensive to make. Because of their construction, radial tires require a different suspension system from that used by cars designed for bias-ply tires. It is generally recommended that radial tires not be used on cars designed for bias-ply tires.

Over the next 20 years radial tires became standard on new cars outside of America. Michelin in France, Bridgestone in Japan, Pirelli in Italy, and Continental in Germany became powerful radial tire manufacturers. Automobile tires everywhere became tubeless as tire technology improved, but what happened to radial tires in America? Therein lies a tale.

Both the American automobile manufacturers and the tire companies fought the radial tire. Detroit, home of the American automobile, was afraid of how much it would cost to redesign automobile suspensions to accept radial tires. The tire industry was afraid of how much it would cost to retool the entire American tire industry to make the more costly radial tires. Not happy with the threat of having to make tremendous investments, most American automobile makers and tire manufacturers wrote off the radial tire as "a freak product that isn’t going anywhere."

With the notable exception of B.F. Goodrich, the American tire companies decided that the American public wasn’t ready to pay a lot more for the harder ride that radials produced, and they stuck to making bias ply tires. Goodrich bucked this trend by investing heavily in radial tire technology, only to have their tire—the Silvertown Radial 900, introduced in 1965—snubbed by the American automobile industry. Eventually Goodrich sold its tire operations and got out of the tire business.

In 1967, Goodyear, the world’s largest tire company, introduced their response to the radial, a bias-belt product called the Custom Superwide Polyglas. The bias-belted tire simply added a fiberglas belt to the bias-ply tire. The bias-belted tire would last 30,000 miles compared to 40,000 for radial and 23,000 for bias-ply tires. It could be used on cars designed for bias-ply tires. Best of all, it could be made on existing bias-ply tire-making machines, which made its cost not much more than a bias-ply tire.

Fueled by a Goodyear advertising blitz, bias-belted tire sales rose from 2 percent of the original-equipment market in 1968 to 87 percent by the early 1970s. In advertisements touting their bias-belted tires, Goodyear ridiculed radials for their hard ride and their high cost. The American tire and automobile industry was confident that the bias-belted tire would keep the radial tire wolf from the door for a while and expected to have plenty of time to develop their own radial tire expertise at their own pace.

Then came 1973 and the gasoline crisis. Gas went from 30 cents to a dollar a gallon. Americans demanded more economical cars. That year, imported cars represented 15% of American auto sales, but by the early 1980s imports were 28 percent. Of course, each foreign car came equipped with radial tires. Americans clamored for radial tires when they found that they improved gas mileage. Companies like Michelin and Bridgestone were only too happy to supply the American market.

Alas, in the mid-seventies Firestone Tire decided to get into radials on the cheap, fabricating radial tires on machines made for building bias tires. The tires came apart in a spectacular manner. Firestone recalled close to 9 million of its Firestone 500 steel-belted radial tires. From 1977 to 1980, Firestone’s tire business dropped 25 percent, resulting in the layoff of 25,000 workers. The company went from a $110 million profit to $106 million loss, and its stock dropped from $15 down to $10 a share. Firestone was rescued when Bridgestone Tire bought them in 1988.

Goodyear finally produced a radial tire in 1977 by investing billions of dollars in radial technology. Other American tire companies either merged or were bought out. All American new cars came with radial tires by 1983.

I presume the radials that were optional on the Pontiac and Buick were the Goodrich tires mentioned in the quote.

Edited May 7, 2013 by Dave@Moon (see edit history)

[Dave@Moon]

Of course, each foreign car came equipped with radial tires.

This part of that quote is an obvious overstatement, although it was largely true of upscale imports and many economy cars at least had them as options in the 1970s.

[keiser31]

Pontiac's, "radial tuned suspension" comes to mind.....

[Bob Stein]

I tracked the probable source of the 1966 Pontiac Sprint data to a 1966 article where a car magazine editor had ridden in a 1966 Pontiac Sprint equipped with aftermarket radials and was promoting radials. In the article, he noted that no American car manufactures offered them yet. Another source notes that radials were offered on the 1968 GTO for a short period, but were withdrawn due to production issues.

[Guest]

Yes, that would be only 1968, but after a supply issue with BF Goodrich the radials wouldn't be used again until 1974. 1969-73 would be PolyGlass

[West Peterson]

The 1966 Oldsmobile Toronado was designed to have radial tires, but unusually high wear nixed those plans. According to a Motor Trend article.

[Restorer32]

Dad's tire business burned to the ground New Year's Eve 1971. I remember radials were just starting to show up as after market then. Was lots of talk about whether the recapping business was doomed.

[Guest my3buicks]

Buick offered them in 1967, and that has been documented and approved by the AACA

[Guest]

The 1964 Pontiac GTO was supposed to come with radials as well as disc brakes ( Kelesy Hayes even did the tooling for the disc on their own dime ) But GM President Ed Cole killed the programs including Pontiac's famous Tri-Power. You might say Cole had a dislike for Pontiac and it's three famous division leaders Knudsen, Estes, DeLorean. Cole was also the guy who pulled DeLorean's dream two seat 421 sports car from being shown at the Waldorf Astoria just hours before it was to be shown to the public in 1964.

[Guest]

This is a pretty good article that covers most of it all;

​Over the next 20 years radial tires became standard on new cars outside of America. Michelin in France, Bridgestone in Japan, Pirelli in Italy, and Continental in Germany became powerful radial tire manufacturers. Automobile tires everywhere became tubeless as tire technology improved, but what happened to radial tires in America? Therein lies a tale.Both the American automobile manufacturers and the tire companies fought the radial tire. Detroit, home of the American automobile, was afraid of how much it would cost to redesign automobile suspensions to accept radial tires. The tire industry was afraid of how much it would cost to retool the entire American tire industry to make the more costly radial tires. Not happy with the threat of having to make tremendous investments, most American automobile makers and tire manufacturers wrote off the radial tire as "a freak product that isn’t going anywhere."

With the notable exception of B.F. Goodrich, the American tire companies decided that the American public wasn’t ready to pay a lot more for the harder ride that radials produced, and they stuck to making bias ply tires. Goodrich bucked this trend by investing heavily in radial tire technology, only to have their tire—the Silvertown Radial 900, introduced in 1965—snubbed by the American automobile industry. Eventually Goodrich sold its tire operations and got out of the tire business.

In 1967, Goodyear, the world’s largest tire company, introduced their response to the radial, a bias-belt product called the Custom Superwide Polyglas. The bias-belted tire simply added a fiberglas belt to the bias-ply tire. The bias-belted tire would last 30,000 miles compared to 40,000 for radial and 23,000 for bias-ply tires. It could be used on cars designed for bias-ply tires. Best of all, it could be made on existing bias-ply tire-making machines, which made its cost not much more than a bias-ply tire.

Fueled by a Goodyear advertising blitz, bias-belted tire sales rose from 2 percent of the original-equipment market in 1968 to 87 percent by the early 1970s. In advertisements touting their bias-belted tires, Goodyear ridiculed radials for their hard ride and their high cost. The American tire and automobile industry was confident that the bias-belted tire would keep the radial tire wolf from the door for a while and expected to have plenty of time to develop their own radial tire expertise at their own pace.

Then came 1973 and the gasoline crisis. Gas went from 30 cents to a dollar a gallon. Americans demanded more economical cars. That year, imported cars represented 15% of American auto sales, but by the early 1980s imports were 28 percent. Of course, each foreign car came equipped with radial tires. Americans clamored for radial tires when they found that they improved gas mileage. Companies like Michelin and Bridgestone were only too happy to supply the American market.

[Dave@Moon]

Buick offered them in 1967, and that has been documented and approved by the AACA

Keith, is there an online document somewhere (option list, accessories catalog, etc.) that the AACA used to approve 1967 radials? I've heard about them many times, but I went through my literature before posting and couldn't come up with anything.

Also were they Goodrich radials or an imported brand?

[Dave@Moon]

This is a pretty good article that covers most of it all;...

I think I just read that somewhere....

[Bob Stein]

Proper documentation seems to be the real issue. The quoted stories don't mention actual vehicle use, and even if they did they would not count towards acceptance by AACA. So far I have only found actual factory literature to support radials as options for the Cougar in 1967, and even then only on the GT models. The Judging Guidebook mentions Buick and Oldsmobile in 1967 - I'd like to see the documentation, as I have not been able to find any, just to satisfy my own curiosity. Every source I have found has stated that GM did not get into radials (with the aborted exception of the 1968 GTO) until the 1970s.

[Guest prs519]

I do take issue with part of the article. I once had a 4wd Chevrolet which I converted from bias ply to radial. The ride was so much better

with the radials; there was no comparison. It was like adding another set of shock absorbers.

Perry

[Guest my3buicks]

Keith, is there an online document somewhere (option list, accessories catalog, etc.) that the AACA used to approve 1967 radials? I've heard about them many times, but I went through my literature before posting and couldn't come up with anything.

Also were they Goodrich radials or an imported brand?

Dave, I will have to pull my information, I presented a brochure, original letter from Buick introducing them to the dealers and a couple items to the chief of AACA judging and they were approved as appropriate for 67 Buick's. Sometimes it pays to have probably the worlds largest collection of 67 Buick "stuff"

[Guest my3buicks]

This is most of what I presented in 2004 and it was approved shortly after.

[Dave@Moon]

Thanks Keith. I was curious what form that material took.

[Restorer32]

Now that's good documentation!

[Bob Stein]

Thanks to Keith's info, I was able to finally locate similar documentaiton for my Cougar. The Ford Shop Tips magazine for June 1967 has an article announcing radial tires being available as factory options for Ford, Falcon, Mustang, Mercury, Comet, and Cougar! It also provides sizes for each car model. (185R14 for the Cougar). While it may not be true, the article also claims Ford is the first to offer radials as factory options of all the major manufacturers (disregarding European car makers who had been providing radials for a decade). I have included scans of the cover, content list, and article page for anyone who might want to see or print them.

[rocketraider]

Oldsmobile parts books show them on the factory installed optional equipment lists in 1967 and 1968, then they disappeared until 1973.

There was an Olds retiree on realoldspower.com who bought a 1968 W31 new, factory equipped with radials. He corroborated the tires were recalled quickly due to both production and performance issues. Pretty sure the thread was lost when ROP crashed and burned several months ago.

185R14 sounds awfully small for a car the size of a Cougar (my 87 Aries K used that exact same size), but then I remember tires were 78 or 82 aspect back then. Tall and skinny with small contact patch.

How did we drive on those tires?!

[Marty Roth]

Having owned, and raced Italian and English cars riding on Radial Tires through the 1960s, I was disappointed at not being able to specify Radials on my first new (family) car, a 1969 Pontiac "Custom S", ordered with the GTO Ride & Handling package, Pontiac (not Chevy) 350 V-8, Turbo-Hydramatic 400 3-speed tranny, and Power Disc Brakes.... so I did the next best thing... I ordered the "Mayfair Maize" poncho with the cheapest set of bias-ply blackwall tires, wore them out in a hurry, went to the supplier for a set of Gran Prix 15" rims on the 4-3/4 bolt circle, and got a set of 15" Michelins. The handling was superb by comparison. Years later I further improved the rallye-type handling by keeping 1 or 2 size larger Michelin tires on the front wheels with standard size on the rear - this almost eliminated the heavy understeer which was then common to American rear wheel drive cars.

Edited July 7, 2013 by Marty Roth (see edit history)