US Royal Tiger Paw Bias-Ply Tires Aren’t Just for the 1964 GTO

Modern automotive tires are huge compared to the skinny, stiff rubber that went on vehicles back in the 1960s, and this 1964 advertisement for the "Super-Safety 800" bias-plies sold to Pontiac by US Royal (which became Uniroyal and eventually got absorbed into the Michelin Empire) for use on the GTO makes that point very well.

Known as the "Tiger Paw" when installed on John DeLorean's money-printing masterwork, this tire was roughly the same size as a modern 215/75-R14 tire and gripped like a cat on a freshly waxed hardwood floor. Still, they worked well enough for drag racing in their time, and you couldn't argue with the coolness of the name.