tire video 53-55 must see

[Roy B.]

http://www.earlycorvettes.com/corvettesite/videos/1955TireMovieWeb2.wmv

Pic not so good BUT the speed

[Sam K.]

Re: tire video 53-55 must see

Roy:
Where do you get these relic videos..... Wish I had it when I had my '55...

[John H.]

Re: tire video 53-55 must see

Pic not so good BUT the speed

Marketing "hype" and "artistic license" were alive and well in 1955 advertising .

U.S. Royal tires had such a bad reputation in the 60's that many new-car customers wouldn't accept a car delivered with those tires. Dealers wised up to that issue and added notes to the orders that they wouldn't accept units with U.S. Royals; I remember seeing LOTS of cars coming down the line in the mid-60's with instructions typed on the bottom of the Broadcast Copy that said "Akron Tires Only" (GM's way of saying "don't put U.S. Royals on this car") - U.S. Royals were the only brand of OEM tires that weren't made in Akron, Ohio.

[Roy B.]

Re: tire video 53-55 must see

On CF those guys post so many neat things and I pass on what I like here, just hope it's OK with NCRS members I just got a kick watching the speedo going over 100mph. How many owners would do that now??

[Mike M.]

Re: tire video 53-55 must see

1043 miles on the 55. notice hood not latched. doubt a stock 55 would hit 120 but 105 attainable.the 54 Olds had to let the vette by. no self-respecting rocket 324ci would have let that occur.mike

[Stuart F.]

Re: tire video 53-55 must see

My 63 came new with U.S. Royal 8's, and I still have one new one in my spare tire tub (never on the ground). I knew of their reputation from first hand experience several years before I bought the 63, but never thought about specifying any other tire, etc. I was racing a 59 Impala out on a country road with my 56 (58 fuelie engine), and he lost traction and just dropped his right rear off the pavement and it blew out. Lucky enough I had already pulled him by a car off the line because he swerved right over to where I had been. It was a joke to us then, and you'd think I would have remembered that lesson and their reputation, but nooooo! Four years later I was blasting through Navada with the Vette at 6200 rpm in 4th gear (w/3.36 rear), speedo jumpin at 150 mph (bit of slippage) ON U.S. ROYAL 8's!!

Now, granted, I'm running radials now and wouldn't think of running that spare any further than needed to get to a fixit stop at 20 mph, maybe.

Stu Fox

[Louis T.]

Re: tire video 53-55 must see

Fantastic, Roy!

I love the close-up, head-on shots - they have a surreal look to them. As a side note, did anyone pick up on the error in odometer sequence? The intermittent shots of the speedometer show, in order, odometer readings of 1043.0, 1043.5, 1044.4, but the last clip shows 1042.9 rolling over to 1043.0.

Louis

[Jim L.]

Re: tire video 53-55 must see

1043 miles on the 55. doubt a stock 55 would hit 120 but 105 attainable.

The car sounds like a 6 banger to me and I don't see a "V" on the side script.

Road and Track, back in that era reported that the '54 they tested hit 107 and that the V8 '55 they tested hit 119.

If that is a 6 cylinder, the speedo reading seems, um, "generous".

Jim

[David K.]

Re: tire video 53-55 must see

I liked the dust that was flying back on the driver of that '55. Just think how fast the photo car was going to get those fast paced pictures.