Martin Custom Tire Co. ?????

[FLYER15015]

Hi Guys,

I'm trying to find some history on the "Martin Custom Tire Co." which I think used to be somewhere in NY state.

My 90 series LTD came with their B-16's on her, and according to the previous owner, who I'm told bought her new, came with the car. They look to be brand new, with no cracks whatsoever.

This really has me baffeled, as in addition the odometer says 4963 right now. I know there is no provision for the 100K digit, so I don't quite know what is up with this car.

Looking for input from the Buick history guys here.

Thanks,

Mike in Colorado

:confused::confused::confused:

[trp3141592]

Hi,

I never heard of Martin Custom Tire Co, but I found a 1939 NY court decision regarding bankruptcy in which the company is listed as defendant. Martin had filed for bankruptcy protection, and a machinery supplier took exception to the bankruptcy:

FindACase™ | Albert v. Martin Custom Made Tires Corporation.

A set of "6 Martin Custom White Wall Classic Car Tires" was sold on Ebay in June 2013

Set of 6 Martin Custom White Wall Classic Car Tire B 17 | eBay

Just for the record, I would not consider running a car on tires this old, no matter what they look like. They might be fine on a museum exhibit, though.

--Tom

[Mark Shaw]

Mike,

Other evidence of wear on the car will indicate if it has been over 100K miles.

[FLYER15015]

Thought I would post a picture of the "Martins" FYI. Just to see if it would jog someones interest.

Tom, I too found a court case. Something about a "vulcanizer" not being paid for, as I remember.

My local tire shop, who would dearly love to sell me a set of tyres (for Grant and Danny) has inspected them inside and out and has replaced the tubes, seems to think they are fine.

Still, we don't go far and we don't go fast, but as a peice of history, I'm wondering if I should "hang-em-up". They just look so cool on the car.

Mike in Colorado

[trp3141592]

Hi,

Well, Mike, I wouldn't drive to Walmart on tires of that age, and Walmart is in my back yard! They are beautiful lookers though, and certainly a conversation piece.

Hang them as your sidemounts like my oldie tires, never to be used?

--Tom

[Guest BigDogDaddy]

My 1940 80 series Limited has them as well, and another local Limited also has them. I too have searched to learn more about these tires. My Dad, and a few other older gentleman, has told me that they were expensive tires in their day. These tires were on my car when I bought it nearly 20 years ago. I have put many thousands of miles on them. Right before the Danvers National meet, I went to my local tire shop. The owner felt the same as everyone else regarding old tires. But after inspecting them, like Mike's shop did, he gave them his blessing and installed new tubes for me. I then put about 700 miles on them during my trip to Danvers and then Cape Cod. I have since put a few thousand more miles on them.

One thing to remember with these tires is that they have inner tubes, so they will not suffer a catastrophic blowout like tubeless tires would. I routinely check my tires and would notice if the carcass was starting to come apart. My Martin tires have outlasted, in years anyway, many modern tires and many reproduction antique car tires as well.

I have a 1989 Mustang LX/HO that I bought new. It has 15,995 miles on it with the original tires. I would not trust them to go on a long trip, and certainly not at highway speeds. They do not look as healthy as the Martins on my Buick.

[dibarlaw]

When I bought my 1937-41 in 1987 it had 2 Martins. One as a spare and one un-mounted. Just looked them over. Both were evenly worn out but not a crack to be seen any where. The car had a matched of Garfield's (labeled antique type). Put on in the early 80s. Still in great shape and no cracking. But before we drove it any distance on a highway I had new Firestone WWW put on. The 37 rode well on the Firestones to and from the Nationals. 1,553 miles. I still have to redo the lower control arms and lower shafts. I cleaned and "jury-rigged" them with fitted brass shims and wedges to get us thru the trip. The old Martin's, other than some staining they would make nice side mount spares.

Edited September 2, 2013 by dibarlaw (see edit history)

[FLYER15015]

Larry,

Very cool........

I see they are D-16's. Mine are B-16's (7.50-16), and as yours, nary a crack anywhere.

I'm more than willing to drive them bald, OR replace them with replica tyres. I don't know if they have a lot of value.

Question remains that I cannot find hardly any info on this company that started in 1910 and lasted till 1949?

You would think a 39 year run would leave a trail of info. There HAS to be a story here.........

Just waiting for a history buff to notice this thread.

Mike in Colorado

[FLYER15015]

Time to re-awaken this old thread.

Because I am now considering buying a new set of shoes for the "baby".

Namely Lester tires of the 7.50-16 size.

And the question is, are my almost new Martin B-16's of any value to a collector out there in Buick land ?

Mike in Colorado

[Daves1940Buick56S]

Mike:

 

Yeah, I have decided on Lesters for mine as well, but 7.00x15 tubeless. My current tires are at least 20 years old from what I can tell, no cracks, but for long term running I really can't trust them.  Plus, they are 2.5" WW and I want the 4"!

 

Cheers, Dave

[FLYER15015]

Hi Dave,

I'm looking at the 7.50-16 Lesters (@ $238.00ea.)plus God knows what shipping cost.

I could save the shipping if you would pick them up in Pa on your way to Colorado. Ha. Ha.

It would be worth a steak dinner @ the local truck stop. Best diner in town!

The lester 7.50's have a 5" smooth white wall and edge, where as Cokers have a 4" WW, and they have that

"pie crust" edge, which I don't care for.

I may have to take a detour to Pa. on my way back from Florida this fall.

Best regards,

Mike in Colorado

[Daves1940Buick56S]

Mike:

 

Actually shipping tires isn't that bad.  I had 4 extra tires from my SUV and I shipped them to my stepson in TX via UPS.  They just put a band on them with the label, and I think it was about $27 each to ship.  Saved him about $500 over getting new tires and he still has them on his truck.  Obviously for WW they would have to be wrapped, but the retailer should do that.  Are you getting them from the dealer in Hershey?  That is where I am going to get mine and I will drive up to get them.  With gas etc it may be near a wash on the money, though.

 

Cheers, Dave

[Dave Gelinas (XP-300)]

Mike:

 

Yeah, I have decided on Lesters for mine as well, but 7.00x15 tubeless. My current tires are at least 20 years old from what I can tell, no cracks, but for long term running I really can't trust them.  Plus, they are 2.5" WW and I want the 4"!

 

Cheers, Dave

  

Hi Dave,I'm looking at the 7.50-16 Lesters (@ $238.00ea.)plus God knows what shipping cost.I could save the shipping if you would pick them up in Pa on your way to Colorado. Ha. Ha.It would be worth a steak dinner @ the local truck stop. Best diner in town!The lester 7.50's have a 5" smooth white wall and edge, where as Cokers have a 4" WW, and they have that"pie crust" edge, which I don't care for.I may have to take a detour to Pa. on my way back from Florida this fall.Best regards,Mike in Colorado

I was of the understanding that Buicks used Firestone tires. How do Lester's compare?

[FLYER15015]

Dave S.

Universal is in Hershey and their e-bay site says about $41.00 ea to ship.

That is $164.00 worth of diesel, or about 54 gallons (@$3.00/gal) or with our coach about 540 miles.

Not good enough to drive over there from our Florida route to pick them up.

If your driving up from Md. you could pick mine up too and bring them out to Colorado.

Good luck with that idea..............

Dave G.

According to my limited research, those that have the Lester's really like them.

As for me, the Martin's have a smooth white wall and edge and so do the Lester's

They are a few bucks less than the Coker's and the 5" WW is what I'm used to seeing.

Just stuck in my old ways I guess.

Mike in Colorado

[Terry Stock]

Only a couple of hits here for "Martin Custom Tire"

http://www.fultonhistory.com/Fulton.html New York (mainly) newspapers.

 

A Lincoln for sale fitted with them in 1936 & Martin Custom Tire paid a dividend in 1937.

 

You get a lot more more hits with "Martin Custom built"

 

There was a Buick for sale Martin custom cord white walls in 1955 but references after the late 1930s are rare.

[Guest SamanthaR.]

i am so excited to find this thread. My great grandfather was James Martin of Martin tires. My mom who is in her 70's doesn't have to much information for me on it so it was great to find some people talking about it. I do know that when the military needed the rubber for the war is why they went bankrupt. That is at least the story in the family.  any other knowledge would be awesome. Thank you

 

Samantha in New York

[FLYER15015]

Hi Sam,

FYI here is a picture of the "Baby", a 1940 Buick series 90 LTD sitting on( 4) B-16 Martin's that my local tire shop says are fine.

 

Mike in Colorado

[Malo48]

I had a '54 Chrysler New Yorker that was running Martins.   I bought it from the second owner who said that how how he bought it .  They were the widest whitewalls I'd ever seen.  They looked awesome on the car; I should have kept them.

[jscheib]

Samantha,

 

I know you might know little about your family's business, and it seems the writers on this forum have found very little.  But it would be great if you could find more and share it with us.   The business failure was quite common in those years as the government/industry complex favored only the largest suppliers, and smaller industries did not survive.  A local museum should have some information, I would think.

 

John 

[dibarlaw]

I thought I had seen an ad for Martin Tires. This was from an old car magazine. May-June 1966. Should not be a copywriter issue since this is an ad and not an article.

[FLYER15015]

Larry,

Would you please repost this add.

I would love to print a copy.

 

Thanks,

Mike in Colorado

[MCHinson]

Flyer15015,

 

You should be able to right click on the image and choose "Save as", to save it to your computer so you can print it. 

[jscheib]

Interesting!  It seems the factory was in Warren, Ohio in 1966.  The advert says "Shipped direct from the factory.

 

John

[FLYER15015]

3 hours ago, MCHinson said:

Flyer15015,

 

You should be able to right click on the image and choose "Save as", to save it to your computer so you can print it. 

 I tried that and got the top half.

Seems like the bottom did not fully upload on the post.

Mike in Colorado

[Alfre]

I bought martin tires in 1964 for my 28 Gardner and they were shipped from NYC and am still using them for over 40000 miles and no cracking and plenty of life still left,

These tires are built like large truck tires.

Al  

[MCHinson]

You may want to try it again. It worked perfectly for me.

[FLYER15015]

37 minutes ago, MCHinson said:

You may want to try it again. It worked perfectly for me.

Matt,

GOT IT !

Had to open up the link then print.

This ad is from 1966. I thought they went bust in 1940's

Sure wish Samantha (my most favorite girl's name) would jump back in with some more company info.

Thanks,

Mike

Edited June 8, 2016 by FLYER15015 (see edit history)

[Guest SamanthaR.]

sorry everyone I didn't have notifications turned on so I did not realize anyone responded.  My mother spoke to my great aunt the other day we had heard a rumor that Martin tires were on a car or airplane in the air space museum in D.C. and my son was going to visit there with his school. We called my great Aunt who is in her 90's to ask. Unfortunately  we were wrong but she did say there were tires in the Roosevelt Museum so I am going to look into it.

 

I saw the ad it was not the same unless someone took over the business. I noticed a zip code on Ad which of course means 1954-1955 and up. I know my mother who was born in 1944 and that business was over by then. I did look on ebay and there is 1 Martin tire for sale right now.

a cool note is my great grandfather is orginally Martini and when he went through Ellis Island it was changed.

[nzcarnerd]

Just curious regarding the uncertainty over the age of these tyres - do they have date codes or were they not used then??

[dibarlaw]

Mike :

 Glad you got the image. I went to redo the image last night and I had a hostile take over of my computer by Windows 10. So I am still dealing with new passwords etc. At least I am back on the forum.

[FLYER15015]

Larry,

Windows 10. I did the same thing last week and went thru He*ll trying to get back to 7.

Lost all my pass words and now still have to refer to my little black phonebook with all my user names and pass words to get into my sites.

Love the net, hate W-10.

 

NZCARNERD,

My Martin B-16's have no date code. They do say made in N.Y.

 

Mike in Colorado

[Grimy]

For Samantha and any others, five-digit zip codes were instituted in the summer of 1963.  Long before that, larger cities used two digits between the city name and the state name. 

[Larry Schramm]

On ‎6‎/‎7‎/‎2016 at 10:19 PM, FLYER15015 said:

 I tried that and got the top half.

Seems like the bottom did not fully upload on the post.

Mike in Colorado

Try waiting longer for the file to download.