railroad inspection cars and special back plate rims so regular vehicles could ride on the rails easier

 That is pretty smart, as long as the car has exactly the right width of a footprint between the tires

 The above is a Lincoln model L, a more luxurious railcar than most

 pedal powered rail inspection car... the exercise it would take to push this 100 pound rail riding machine would be a lot... consider that bicycles are talked about in ounces... and that's because of the energy it requires ot keep them moving for long distances

 a very early track car, that has a good size spot light and bell

another mobile turntable to get inspection cars turned around for the trip home. ( This summer I learned they couldn't make the trip in reverse in the case they didn't drive far enough to find a rail house with a full size turntable, because (of course) the radiator has to be ahead of the car in the direction of travel to correctly cool the engine)

All of these are from TheOldMotor.com http://theoldmotor.com/

Ingenious luggage or storage accessory... the Tire Trunk by Wohlfeld

Found on http://theoldmotor.com/?p=15096

1904 air filled tires were barely more than balloons, so traction aiding, tire covering hides were innovated and tested

found while browsing through the Automotor Journal on Google books

the "Pedrail" system by Diplock in 1904, pages 90-94 and 113-117 of the Automotor Journal

if you want to read about it http://books.google.com/books?id=63QnAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA699&dq=belgian++pipe&hl=en&ei=Xc1GTqjoCIGssQLRscSSCA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CDIQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=belgian%20%20pipe&f=false

Goodyear had one BIG rolling wheel to get attention and promote the "Air Wheel" at 12 feet tall, 4 feet wide

from http://www.autopuzzles.com/

Motoring Magazine and Motor Life, 1913, and available online to read at your leisure

 

 I enjoy reflecting on the cars of 100 years ago, it's amazing that they were all simple enough for a gearhead like me to work on, repair, or improve on.

 What do you make of the above tire covers? A primitive retread? And that company name, Leather Tire Goods... what leather tire goods did they make?

I think I've pointed out several times that roads were so bad that tires were lucky to last a couple thousand miles, just last week I found a photo of a the "3000 mile club" tires that were amazing enough to get that kind of recognition.

the above is a Winton

look through the 6 issues on http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=subject%3A%22Automobiles%20--%20Periodicals%22

Vim tires don't slip

found on http://questionableadvice.tumblr.com/

Draper the tire salemans Dodge, with Trublpruf solid rubber cross drilled tires, never will go flat

Below photo is from the front window display of his business http://choosingscars.blogspot.com/2009/01/trublpruf-tires-by-lambert.html

http://www.shorpy.com/node/9969
Tires were flat so often, that this solution was considered a great idea, and cars didn't driver very fast, since roads were in such terrible condition, and there were very few miles of paved road in the entire country of the US

is this a tire patch? Or a protection of a weak spot in the tire?

found in the lower left corner of a photo on Shorpy http://www.shorpy.com/node/10720?size=_original and in the comments, one person optimistically asks if it is a Patented Herniated Tire Belt

photos found at a car show

Tires sold that got over a thousand miles made it to the wall of fame... doesn't that say a lot about the short life span expectancy of tires in the 1930's
T C Ryan flying school in San Diego, Howard Hughes on the far left
Must have been great at parades

1936's getting stuffed into a boxcar for delivery
The Marx brothers
Amelia Earhart

17 were made, company founder Gary Davis served out a two year sentence for grand theft and fraud in North County Correctional Facility near Castaic, California. Built in Van Nuys, most were powered by four cylinder Continental engines, although at least one was fitted with a Ford V8-60.

TireVan, sell, mount, and balance a set of tires for you when and where you like, no more going to the tire shop unless you like their waiting room

So this an option if you live near Washington DC, or Philadelphia metro area
Like the photos suggest, a wide, flat, clear area (about the size of two parking spaces) is needed so the tires can be worked on
The vans carry the Hunter mounting/breakdown machine to get the old tires off and install the new tires on the rim, plus tires, plus a Hunter balancer, and a compressor to get them inflated.

Tire price comparison, as that is half of what it takes to get my business, the price for the least expensive 215 60/15 is $85 plus costs of $30a tire ($25 per tire for installation, 5 for TPMS). That would be $230 total cost.

My go-to tire shop, Discount Tire has their low cost tires at $250 out the door, road hazard warranty included. I compared prices in 2007 at 6 tire shops around San Diego, and Discount Tire was the least expensive, and best service too: http://choosingscars.blogspot.com/2007/04/how-much-for-pair-of-tires-heres-what-i.html

Right now they carry 85 brands and models available in my example size, so you have options in prices and brands, I go for the least expensive when buying for my daily commuter.

http://www.tirevan.com/

Would you want a new Jeep, if they could only have the military tread pattern? It's disconcerting to view a new vehicle with WW2 era military tires

What do you think... pretty weird to look at? Or a cool idea no one has thought of doing to a new car?

The tires and rims display area at SEMA, the stuff that captured my attention

Hands free tire mounting! This isn't the only one on the market, but it was the first I've sever seen

This tire seat is comfortable too!

The yellow and red rims are interesting, I haven't seen any 2 spoke rim before... I wonder about the balance

The above was particularly impressive, good concept for a display

If you have balanced tires, like I have, you'll probably appreciate the full range of all the weights this company http://www.cnblueocean.com/ displayed. Myself, I'm impressed.

This is one bitchin display wall

The lever in the below photo has a nail welded to it, and any passerby gets to puncture the tire as many times as they want to prove to themselves how perfectly inflated the tire remains.