History of 10.50-16 tyres

[Bob Carriere]

There was also a 9.25x16 lower profile used on HUPs and a 10.50x20...... and other odd period specific tyre size such as for the 18 in. rims.

I would love to get my hands on some new sand tires used in the forties BUT they are no longer made in 16 in. format
except for agricultural use and usually at 16.1 or 16.5 and cannot be used on a licensed road vehicle.

It is possible that the reference books you have are not old enough.......... it is possible that by the early 1950s they were no longer made/listed/sold because there was no demands and lots of surplus military stock.

The only reason 10.50x16 are discussed so much is that someone took the time to reproduce the old size in a modern casing and get them MOT approve for road use.

Simple supply and demand...... we no longer can find 9:00x13 because very few people world wide needs them or the elusive low profile 9:25x16......

There was some rumour that the limited collectors market for the Specialty 10:50 was now in very short supply due to diminishing demand..... some form of market saturation..... and that the current demand was not sufficient to justify running another minimum batch of 2 or 3 hundred.

A few collectors are getting there hands on the remaining 10:50x16 currently in the supply network and storing them for future projects. I am sure a new batch will get manufactured as soon as the demand/enquiries/orders start pilling up BUT when?????

Cheers

[Keith Webb]

20" were generally 10.50 not 11.00.

[Tim Bell]

10.50 x 16 tyres - seen on many UK based Bedford OYDs and the like.

http://www.mitas-tyres.com/gb/product/1013308610000/

Hope this helps

Tim

[mlombard]

Hi

Thanks for the info, about finding the actual tyres. However I'm still interested in the history of some of these sizes, when did they come in i.e you see the size only listed from 194? onwards, and when did they go out (if they did).

I heard years ago that the US military wanted a specific unique tyre size for the Hummer and one of the reasons was to make it unattractive to those with light fingers as it wouldn't fit anything else, I believe that only lasted a short time before other vehicle manufacturers also used the same tyre size, true or not it would make sense, at least in the short term.

Re 9.00-13 Sand Grip Tyres that are or were a Bridgestone product. So again when and where did this 9.00-13 size come from. What lead the British /Canadians to adopt this size tyre, was it a high flotation tyre used on agricultural impliments before the war?, I've seen photos of Bagnold running around the Libyan desert pre WWII in old Ford Model A's with ballon tyres , but they were not 9.00-13's, from memory.

Its all interesting history.

[gjamo]

Some knackered 9.00x13 sand tyres on Gumtree at the moment.

http://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/toowo...es-/1115463264

[Mike K]

I recall reading that the 9.00-16 military tyre was a W.D. and Dunlop co-development during the 1930's. The early 15cwt rims were not the split type , they had a locking ring with four lugs .

Found this pic of a CS8 prototype ? maybe circa 1934/35 . The tyres look to be 9.00-16

[cliff]

easy to see where the CMP got it's looks from

[mlombard]

Originally Posted by Mike Kelly

I recall reading that the 9.00-16 military tyre was a W.D. and Dunlop co-development during the 1930's. The early 15cwt rims were not the split type , they had a locking ring with four lugs .

Found this pic of a CS8 prototype ? maybe circa 1934/35 . The tyres look to be 9.00-16

So it looks like the tyre and the truck (CS8) were developed together, and the rim system came along a bit later, possibly in a response to the issues of changing a lock ring tyre in the field, so to speak. It all makes sense.

[Andrew H.]

Originally Posted by mlombard

I've seen photos of Bagnold running around the Libyan desert pre WWII in old Ford Model A's with ballon tyres , but they were not 9.00-13's, from memory.
Its all interesting history.

See attached photos for Model A balloon tyres in the Egyptian desert in the early 1930s (Some are Bagnold and some Arkwright).

[mlombard]

Originally Posted by Andrew H.

See attached photos for Model A balloon tyres in the Egyptian desert in the early 1930s (Some are Bagnold and some Awkwright).

Oh ok, maybe I was wrong these look like or pretty similar to a 9.00x13 tyre, wish I could blow the pictures up enough to read the sidewalls.

[mlombard]

Originally Posted by Andrew H.

See attached photos for Model A balloon tyres in the Egyptian desert in the early 1930s (Some are Bagnold and some Awkwright).

hi Andrew the lower photo, was of the type I'd seen on other Bagnold photos, the first three I had not seen before

[Mike K]

Another possible user of 9.00-13 tyres would have been the oil exploration teams , these guys pre WW2 , explored what is now present day Iran and Iraq , roaming across the desert .

[Andrew H.]

Originally Posted by mlombard

hi Andrew the lower photo, was of the type I'd seen on other Bagnold photos, the first three I had not seen before

Yes, the first photos (with fatter tyres) are of the British army (ie the Sudan Defence Force) expedition Model A Fords, under Captain Arkwright in the early 1930s and the last photo (with slightly less-fat tyres) are of Bagnold's Model A's. As fat tyres were adopted for desert use by Arkwright and Bagnold in the early 1930s they were probably the forerunner of the 10.5 X 16 tyres later developed for British army CMP trucks in the desert. I do not know the dimensions of the balloon Model A tyres in the photos, but for what its worth, standard Model A wheel rims from the factory had an outer diameter of 21 inches (1928-29 cars) and 19-inches (1930-31 cars) and Model AA trucks were probably larger.