Unknown Wheel - Tire Combo - What Is It? - Early 1900's

[Guest imported_49plymouthclubcoupe]

I picked up this wheel/tire at an antique shop in Iowa last week. It was identified as a 1908 Buick wheel but there's nothing to really verify that other than the size (35x4.5), the number of spokes (12) and the fact that the tire was made in Akron, Ohio. So, how does one go about identifying one of these?

[1937hd45]

NICE FIND!!!!! The value is in the solid rubber tire not what the wheel came off of. If you can post a closeup of a side view of the hub that should ID the wheel, also the dimentions of the hubcap threads. What brand is the tire?

[Guest imported_49plymouthclubcoupe]

The tire was made by The Motz Tire Company, Akron, Ohio....see photo. I've also attached closeups of both sides of the hub. Thanks for any help. I thought it was just too neat to be left sitting in the corner behind all of the junk.

[Guest imported_49plymouthclubcoupe]

I didn't get the dimensions of the hubcap threads yet. May have to do a little wire brush work to bring them out.

[West Peterson]

That's a neat wheel and tire combo. I'da bought it too, if it was priced right. As they say, you ain't got nothing 'til you got Motz... oh wait, that's a different product and spelled with an s.

[1937hd45]

Look at all those hub bolts! I've never seen a hub with that many bolts, definatly an early truck wheel& tire combination. Coker Tire would give you a good trade in on that I'll bet. Just noticed the hub cover in the first photo that covered the hub bolts, I think REO Trucks used that feature.

[Guest imported_49plymouthclubcoupe]

I can't find very much on the web at all about the Motz Tire and Rubber Company of Akron, Ohio and that surprises me a LOT! I have found a few advertisements for sale from the 1910-1913 period that suggest that the tire was a replacement alternative to the pneumatics of the era. The ads I found were targeted at the ladies suggesting that they would never need to worry about a flat tire. They also were apparently used on several (many?) of the electric cars of the era, at least according to the ads. Anyone know more about the Motz Company? And also, if you take a look at the second photo posted with the closeup of the sidewall there is some writing I can't interpret. Maybe someone else recognizes what the company was communicating there. I just can't really make out any words.

[Guest EMF-Owner]

Most likely, this is a wheel off of an early electric car, as this is what the Motz tires were specifically targeted for. I Own a 1912 Rauch & Lang Electric car with the original Motz tires on it and the rubber is still soft and looks like they were hardly used. I just picked up an advertising pamphlet on eBay for Motz tires that is about 20 pages long describing all the benefits of the Motz tires for Electric cars.

Please let me know if you would EVER be interested in selling it. I would love to be able to pick up an extra for my car. One of the tires on my car looks like it was run up against a curb once cutting some chunks out of it and I would like to keep the Motz tires on it.

I will place a link to my car clubs web site which has a page about my Rauch & Lang and it's Motz tires.

http://dreamwater.org/siacc/auto_bios/bio_6_RL_1912_daly.html

I would scan some of the stuff from this pamphlette if my scanner were not on the fritz.

Please let me know if you have any specific questions I can try to answer.

[Peter J.Heizmann]

Check out the AACA Library & Research Center. Similar queries have been answered above and beyond by the archived data held at the Library.

Click on "Library" on the main page, or,...

Phone: 717-534-2082

E-Mail: kmiller@aacalibrary.org ...

Work Address:

501 W. Governor Road

Hershey, PA 17033

Regards,

Peter J.

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[Terry Bond]

I must have the same brochure in my collection - nice little catalog with a well illustrated cover showing a pretty lady getting into a big limo equipped with Motz tires.

I think the catalog is 1912 because inside the front cover is a full page ad that states "Motz clincher type high efficiency tires. Standard of 70% of all 1911 electrically driven vehicles." It shows the R&L among others including a Studebaker, Waverly, Baker, Argo, Columbus, Detroit, Hupp-Yeates, BROC, Ideal, Phipps Grinnel, Kimball, and Ohio. Altough the company was in Akron Ohio, they had branch offices in Chicago, Detroit, Kansas City, and Cleveland. Unfortunately not enough detail to see the hub bolt pattern.

Terry

[Guest imported_49plymouthclubcoupe]

Ok, here is a comparison tire off a 1912 Rauch-Lang Electric that I found posted on the web. They look a WHOLE lot alike. Plus the rubber on the one I found is new compared to this one.

[Guest EMF-Owner]

Hey, that is a picture of my 1912 Rauch & Lang before I bought it. When we talked via email, I mentioned one of the tires that looked like it had been cut up on a curb? Well that is the one! The rest of the tires on the car are in pretty good shape though, and in fact, the rubber on even this one is still soft after 90+ years. Wish I could buy white tires this nice today, but alas, we seem to have lost the ability to make white tires with such quality.

For everyone elses info, the tire size on these Motz tires is 36 X 4.

Happy Motoring.

[Guest Silverghost]

John: I have an Origional Rauch & Lang Wall charger for sale that I removed from a Phila Townhouse many years ago!!! See my ad under Horseless Carriages here on this AACA site!!!