Interesting to say the least. The pictures are great.. I knew the US auto industry converted to wartime production, but I was unaware of the extent of its variety. Thanks.
Sad ending to this and WW2 related. Firestone and our auto companies were incredibly productive in WW2. Bridgestone, in spite of it's name, is a Japanese company founded in the early 30's and during the war made material for the Imperial Army. It resumed production shortly after the war and is now the largest tire maker in the world, having bought Firestone in the 80's. Us operations of Firestone is run here in the US but ownership is in Japan. Who won that conflict? BTW, it was not a merger but an acquisition. Other than Cooper and a few specialty tire makers I do not think any US company makes tires...........
Well, it was going to be sold no matter what, Firestone was performing that poorly. If it was not the Japanese, it was going to be the Italians(Pirelli). Goodyear.
Thanks for the update.. I forgot about Goodyear, my experience is that it is a fine tire maker. Not so with Firestone, Once great, they declined internally. I hope Bridgestone improves them but they have owned it since the 80's. . It could be they are making it as a cheaper tire for that market and not hurting Bridgestone's brand.. If Goodyear can remain competitive so could others with good management, or so it would seem.. Maybe not. We seem to have lowered cost and value on lots of products after WW2 and now we are buying imports! or at least lots of imports.