When you still drove real winter tires and still had to explain a lot
Fifty years ago, there was still real snow, the roads were covered in white down to lower altitudes and salt was rarely used to remove it. No wonder it was a matter of course for drivers to fit winter wheels in late fall.
Was it? Of course, even back then greed was the order of the day, and people had even more reasons to save money than they do today. So some people came up with the idea of fitting winter tires only on the driven rear wheels, often with fatal consequences, as it was difficult to brake with summer tires at the front.
Veith-Pirelli, however, argued for sixteen tires, because different tire properties were actually needed to cope with snow, ice, wet and dry conditions. This was explained with the different footwear in the advertising.
But of course, the tire manufacturer had managed to combine the different characteristics in at least one winter tire: "This tire is called Cortina by Veith-Pirelli It has studs for black ice, lugs and guide grooves for snow. Fine tread for dry roads; and it is asymmetrical. This is important for wet bends. The ideal tire for the whole long winter and for all road conditions," they wrote in the advertising. Such a tire would be unthinkable today, and not only because of the spikes, which are usually not permitted.
Here is a look at the entire advertising illustration:
