If we characterized it as a Southeast Michigan icon akin to The Sphinx, would anyone feel compelled to argue? [1]
Those who have lived here for any length of time have doubtless many times passed the “Giant Tire” — currently emblazoned with Uniroyal branding. Perhaps on your way to one of the casinos in downtown Detroit. Certainly if you’ve every had a stake in the automobile industry. [2]
One might imagine that much of the same could be said of those flying into town by way of Detroit Metropolitan Airport (DTW) from all corners of the globe for signature events at Cobo Center.
Whatever the number of people who have seen or simply heard of the Giant Tire, the sum of their questions and ever increasing number of stories add up to a multiple of that. “Oh, yeah: It’s a real tire,” one’s brother-in-law pontificates.
Another person, commenting through some Internet chat from behind a newly registered pseudonym insists that a working ferris wheel remains intact behind the treads. “They keep it fully functional, too!” she insists, heretofore without fear of contradiction. Following Howard Hughes’ commitment to his H-4 Hercules, perhaps? [3]
Author and lifelong area resident Steven J Frey had heard his fair share of tales as well. Some likely true, a great many not so much. And, none if any, it seemed, verified. [4]
“Even the ‘official’ web pages were just regurgitations of Wikipedia,” he told Saline Journal during an exclusive interview this afternoon. “They had no information on construction or re-location.” He went on to find that there are “so many inaccuracies. Because there’s no research.
It was originally constructed as a promotion for US Royal Tires at the World’s Fair in New York.
Every exhibitor was responsible for moving out its stuff out when the fair closed in 1965. US Royal put out the word saying, ‘If you can move it, you can have it.’ They put the total weight at one hundred tons — and that included the tire, the supporting structure, and the ferris wheel. [5,6]
The ferris wheel part went to an amusement park in New Jersey. That was dismantled in 1972 and sold for scrap.
The ‘tire,’ which is made of fiberglass, not rubber, is what came here. An entirely new structure was built locally to support it, very different from what they’d had to run the ferris wheel.
The fiberglass sections alone were 8.75 tons. So there’s no way the Giant Tire we’re looking at today weighs ten tons total. But someone in the 1990s wrote an article that had a type-O saying ‘ten’ instead of ‘a hundred.’ Others copied that without doing their own research.
That’s the Internet.
By profession, Mr Frey works for a United States Department of Defense contractor designing components for military vehicles. “Little of what the US Army needs there is off-the-shelf.” Perhaps this helps explain his aversion to inaccuracies in both recitations of history and technical specifications of any sort.
In January of 2018, this reached a tipping point with his focus on the Giant Tire. “That’s when I sent my first eMail to Michelin,” the parent that now owns Uniroyal, he told Saline Journal. “I told them I wanted to do the research needed and write a book that covered all aspects of the Giant Tire, from concept through today. [7]
“You can’t write something like this without connections on the inside,” he advised. “They were immediately supportive. It’s been that way ever since. They made arrangements for access today with Saline Journal in twenty minutes.”
To put that into perspective, the Uniroyal Giant Tire has never been open to the public. When time came to erect it in Allen Park in 1966, the plot from which it would cast its shadow over eastbound I-94 was just a fraction of 37 acres of a larger facility grounds. All but the Giant Tire space has been since sold off, and responsible local police units evidence a dim view of those who would trespass upon it for any reason.
In 2015, the Automotive Press Association was invited to take a closer look, inside and out — in honor of the fiftieth anniversary of this icon. Steven Frey has politely declined to fact check that reporting here. [8,9]
However, his comprehensive book on this Detroit area icon is available for purchase as of today. Titled The Giant Tire: From New York World’s Fair to Detroit Landmark, the pages provide as rich a blend of historical images as it does detailed text. It even has a firmly established Facebook Group of its own where the author regularly (and happily) engages with “Fans of the Giant Tire.” [10,11]
Myths about the Giant Tire are put to rest in The Giant Tire.
Myriad questions you might not have thought to ask are answered in this book as well.
For example, the World’s Fair design was built to replicate a bias ply tire; today it’s a radial. Its first hubcap was scaled from the then-latest style used in 1962 by Cadillac. In 1994 that was changed to reflect that of a 1992 Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser Station Wagon. [12]
Further pealing back the layers, he has included copies of employee ID card and personal contemporaneous photographs from the private collection of Sue VanWinkle, who he has come to know through this project. In 1965 her maiden name Sue Oliversen, and she actually worked the fair both summers that it was in New York, and right in the US Royal Tires booth during 1965.
In the coming months, Steven Frey will be participating in a Plymouth Michigan authors fair and a few months after that making a presentation on the process of writing this book. Original memorabilia will be displayed during his June 24 Plymouth Library appearance. [13,14]
If you’re able to attend, be sure to ask him to tell you what happened to “the nail.”
References
- “Uncovering Secrets of the Sphinx” Evan Hadingham (February 2010) Smithsonian.
- Uniroyal (home page).
- “Inside the Spruce Goose” David Tulis (December 1, 2016) Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association: AOPA.
- “Steven J Frey” Amazon.
- “20 Awesome Things People Saw at the 1964 World’s Fair” Amy Plitt (April 22, 2014) Mental Floss.
- “Photos: New York World’s Fair in Queens in 1964, 1965” (April 26, 2017) Newsday.
- Michelin (home page).
- Automotive Press Association (home page).
- “Here’s what it’s like inside and on top of the Giant Uniroyal Tire” Mark Brush (May 22, 2015) Michigan Radio: NPR.
- The Giant Tire (2019) Steven J Frey.
- “Fans of the Giant Tire” (Facebook Group).
- “Bias Ply Or Radial Tires?” Tommy Lee Byrd (August 26, 2015) Hemmings.
- “Local Author Fair” (May 4, 2019, 1:00pm – 3:00pm) Plymouth District Library.
- “Steven J Frey – Giant Tire Slide Presentation and Q&A” (June 24, 2019 at 7:00pm) Plymouth District Library.
