The striped tire
08/02/2024
Apart from different colored sidewalls or lettering , there wasn't much going on when it came to the individual design of tires. Of course, the main purpose of the profiled rubber was to keep the car safely on the road and not to decorate it. The wheel covers were responsible for that. Nevertheless, it would certainly have been possible to bring a little more variety to the uniform roundness.
At the beginning of the 1950s, "General Tire" made a tentative attempt in this direction. Instead of the usual flat whitewall, their "Super-Squeegee" was also available as a "Whiteway" with nine thin rings around the rim. This would have made it a particularly good match for the Pontiac models of those years and their fluted "silver lining" on the hood.
Unfortunately, the idea of the individualized tire sidewall did not catch on. It could have been designed to match the vehicle in the same way as a radiator grille. For example, angles rotating in the direction of travel on a Citroën. The phenakistiscope of a galloping horse on a Ford Mustang. Or a stucco border for the BMW "Baroque Angel".
