| njsteve |
08-03-2018 11:33 PM |
2 Attachment(s)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lee Stewart
(Post 1410208)
|
You are correct. They would have come with the 1973 Firestone 500 tires in either white stripe or white letter versions. These were the ones that were recalled for exploding and killing dozens of people. It was Firestone's first attempt at making a radial tire. The big mistake was using an existing bias ply mold that placed so much stress on the internal structure that the steel cords would snap without warning and unravel like a cat o'nine tails...only with several thousand tails.
They were also known to explode inside the Corvette's spare tire well and the unraveling steel cord would act like a chain saw, ripping through the fuel tank and the rear body panels.
(These are the same tires that I still have on my '73 SD455 that somehow escaped the recall process).
Here's what one looks like in unexploded condition...and an NOS one after it exploded in my garage. It was not mounted on the car at the time. I had been saving it as a spare...just in case one of the originals blew up. |
