tires

[Christopher Hoffman <imperial67@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Apparent racial overtones aside, Bridgestone Firestone had plenty of demand
(relatively speaking) among owners of 1960s and 1970s cars for the 721. It
has been a favorite of classic American luxury car owners for years, and my
rep at Bridgestone Firestone corporate told me he did all he could to
convince the bean counters to keep it in production. This is a tire that
commonly had a backorder quantity of 3,500 tires between production runs,
and every new run sold out rapidly (as evidenced by the lack of leftover
stock now that it's been discontinued).

But the recent events at Bridgestone Firestone have put them in a position
where they feel they cannot afford to produce a tire that, in the OVERALL
marketplace, has relatively low demand. (Meaning there aren't that many of
us with these cars compared to people needing tires for new cars and SUVs.)
There's just not enough money in it to justify it to the accountants of a
company still recovering from the Ford Explorer debacle and other downturns
in business of late.

By the way, Bridgestone Firestone is Japanese-owned, too.

Chris in LA


George Stringos (big-m@xxxxxxxxxxx) wrote:

> Well...I read the story about Yokohama tires.....I refuse to put any
> product with a name like that on any American car. Just does not seem to
> fit.  If enough demand exist, other manufactures will comply, and make
> whitewall sizes that will sell.