‘GO … GO … GOODYEAR’ proves true as original tires still in use on 1966 Buick
Arizona man says car recently hit 10,000 miles
Goodyear tires are built to last, but these babies have lasted longer than most
Nearly 60 years!
Anson Renshaw, 54, of Mesa, Arizona, owns a 1966 Buick Wildcat with original Goodyear Power Cushion tires, and believe it or not, they’re still drivable.
“Yes, they still have 1966 air in them,” he said.
As the Akron company used to advertise: “GO … GO … GOODYEAR.”
Renshaw inherited the two-door vehicle 30 years ago from his grandmother Sarah Renshaw in Anchorage, Alaska. She didn’t drive it very often — basically to the grocery store and back. When she gave him the car in 1994, the odometer had under 7,000 miles.
Renshaw finally hit 10,000 miles with the original tires, although he only takes the car out about six times a year, traveling 30 to 40 mph.
“I’m very careful where I drive and how I drive, mostly in neighborhoods,
never on the highway anymore,” he said.
Renshaw, a bank analyst, moved with his family to Arizona about a year and a half ago to live closer to relatives. He jokes that the Buick came to Arizona to retire, but he’s still working remotely for a bank in Alaska.
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. priced a set of four Power Cushions in 1966 for about $90 (around $870 today).
Renshaw has all the original paperwork and traced the manufacturing stamp on the Buick’s tubeless tires to February 1966, making them 58 years old.
He has several theories about why
“I’m very careful where I drive and how I drive, mostly in neighborhoods, never on the highway anymore.”
Anson Renshaw Owner of a 1966 Buick Wildcat with original Goodyear Power Cushion tires
these tires have lasted so long. First of all, they weren’t used very often. Even with the low mileage on the car, Renshaw said his grandfather installed studded snow tires every winter, so these tires weren’t in use during cold months.
More importantly, he said, they were always housed in a garage around 55 to 57 degrees Fahrenheit for 56 years in the subarctic climate of Anchorage.
“I always put plywood under the tires to insulate them from the cold concrete in the garage,” Renshaw said.
The recommended 24 PSI is low for the bias ply tires, he said, and they didn’t leak much during the winter. After the Buick sat for eight months, he’d add 2 PSI or so in May while getting the car ready for summer.
Renshaw’s tire longevity is far from the usual. Goodyear recommends that tires be replaced no more than six years after going into service. Most tires will be replaced sooner than that.
Since the Buick has moved from the Arctic to the desert, Renshaw doesn’t think the tires will survive another Arizona summer.
He plans to buy new tires for the Wildcat as soon as possible.
A Goodyear customer service representative recommended that Renshaw buy reproductions from Kelsey Tire, a Missouri company that uses the original Goodyear mold designs to produce exact replacement tires.
Renshaw’s Buick Wildcat is a pristine beauty in its original seafoam green finish. It was built at the GM South Gate Assembly plant in the Los Angeles suburb of South Gate, California. The factory closed in 1982.
He plans to drive the classic car more often after he purchases new tires and installs a new master cylinder as a precaution.
What will he do with the old tires? “I will likely keep them, especially the spare in the trunk,” he said.
Let’s see if the new ones last 60 years.