MTFCA Forum

Test.

Well I'll be darned. It worked!
The photo shows two new old stock tyres I purchased recently. They are 4.40 x 23" straight sided tyres on Chev rims. They were wrapped and put in storage in 1951. They are a match for two others I already have on my tourer.

Now all I have to do is remember what i did to post the photo.
Allan from down under.

Hopefully the tires were stored in a fairly cool place and not turned hard and unusable. I was given some 30 x3 1/2 tires years ago that the owner had stored in his attic that had gotten so hard from the attic heat they had literally turned to what seemed to be concrete! But he did tell me they were new when he gave them to me! They had been stored 50+ years.

These must have been well stored. They were quite supple as I mounted them.Even the moulding 'tits' were flexible enough to stretch a little before breaking off.
Allan from down under.

Yours probably weren’t in a hot environment. The ones I was given were cooked I guess from being the attic for so long. I could hardly get a tire iron between them to spread them open to try to mount but the were firestones that looked really good!
Sounds like yours are good and very usable. Looks like they are Wards Riverside as the 24 Coupe I inherited years ago had some that looks what yours are. My Grandfather had 21inch Model A wheels on it I later changed to the 21” wood wheels that’s on it now.

John, I bought a couple of new 30 x 3.5 Goodyears like that. They were so hard they almost broke. I did carefully lever them off however, not to save them but to see what tubes were in them. The reward was two brand new, thick, red rubber, metal stemmed tubes which did what tubes are meant to do. They hold air! They are in one of my T's to this day. I just cant remember which one.
These tyres are Olympic Australian made items. Their BE tyres are legendary for long life and long mileage.

Allan from down under.

Hey Allan,
Congrats on getting those Tyres and even more for posting your first Photo. I’ve yet to master that forum function yet!!
Alan in Western Australia

It wasn't my first Alan. While waiting for the Mary Poppins movie to run at the 2019 national rally in Maryborough, the forum's own Chris B set my phone up to do the job. it was good while it lasted, but my new phone was too smart for me. I kept getting the dreaded yellow triangle, so gave up.

Out of curiosity, I tried the tyres photo as a test and lo and behold, success. It was short lived though. Now I have to work out how to downsize photos.
By the time I master that, I'll probably need another new phone.

Allan from down under.

Now I have to work out how to downsize photos.

I very rarely have to resize a photo to post here. In those rare cases I just reduce it by a few pixels and it posts.

Don't be shocked if those tyres wear quickly. My experience with NOS tyres (about 30 years old, I think) was that they were gorgeous, looking factory fresh as they came out of the wrappers, but country roads ate them up PDQ. They didn't last a thousand miles.

I hear you Steve, and acknowledge your experience. However, these are not white, and they are Australian made by the Olympic Tyre and Rubber Company with materials renowned for their long service and mileage. All of my T's, bar one, run on their beaded edge tyres, last made in the early 1970's. At the price I paid, they don't owe me much.
Olympic rubber was founded by Sir Hubert Opperman, who found early fame as an Olympic athlete. From my experience with his tyres, it would appear he adopted the Olympic creed to his products as well.
Allan from down under.

Correction! It was Sir Frank Beaurepaire who founded Olympic tyres. He was an Olympic swimmer.

Allan from down under.

Allan, that is interesting history about the Olympic brand.

In 1974, I purchased 30x31/2 Olympics from Little Dearborn in Minneapolis. As I remember,
they were about $40 each. Years later they are still pliable and crack free, and after about
2500 miles they hardly show any tread wear.

You guys sure made some good tyres over there!

That's the ones Nathan. After Olympic stopped production, tyres with that tread surfaced in USA branded LUCAS. I presume that's where the moulds went. I do not know how well they lasted. Later, the Lucas brand was deleted and the moulded brand area was left blank.
Perhaps Lucas could enlighten us further. If only they would make tyres to the same specs.

Allan from down under