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Subject: 
History of wheel and tire designs
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general
Date: 
Thu, 29 Mar 2001 07:57:39 GMT
Viewed: 
438 times
  
Can anyone (who didn't have a twenty-five year dark age) point me to info or
give me a quick history of Lego wheels and tires?  The wheels I remember
from childhood (late sixties, early seventies) had a short brass colored
axle that was inserted into one of four holes in a 2x4 brick what had a
clear plate on the bottom, and some inner workings to hold the wheel secure.
The tires were thick grey rubber and had no tread, but had (I think) grooves
on the sidewalls that went around the circumference of the tire.

When did the sets move to the plastic axle on a plate or brick that snaps
into a hole in the wheel (I realize there's still some variation today)?
Were there intermediate designs?  I've seen wheels like the old style, but
with black rubber tires with "tread". When did those come into use?  How
well did these older wheels and grey tires hold up?  If I bought some today,
is there any possibility that the grey tires are in decent shape?

Thanks,

David



Message has 4 Replies:
  Re: History of wheel and tire designs
 
"David Lewis" <dlewis@seanet.com> skrev i meddelandet news:GAy8s3.BJ1@lugnet.com... (...) Unfortunately I don't have any facts about this... (...) today, (...) ...but looking in my shoe box with old Lego (ca: 1960-67) I still have one tire for each (...) (23 years ago, 29-Mar-01, to lugnet.general)
  Re: History of wheel and tire designs
 
(...) Some "brass axle" wheels also had black treadless tyres - some of these were pnuematic, some were solid, but didn't last as well as the grey solid tyres, at least not in my collection. The grey ones held up remarkably well, except some (...) (23 years ago, 29-Mar-01, to lugnet.general)
  Re: History of wheel and tire designs
 
(...) Well my childhood and early LEGO years was the mid-late 70's and early-mid 80's. During that time the wheels you remember were already gone, but the ones that replaced them were nearly the same. The 2x4 bricks were black (I think the ones you (...) (23 years ago, 30-Mar-01, to lugnet.general)
  Re: History of wheel and tire designs
 
I will check some of my old 1962-64 LEGO Wheels and wheel sets (#314, 400, 401, 402), but I think what I state below is fairly accurate: LEGO wheels first came out in 1962. The oldest wheels had the red 2x2 wheels with gray tires, and white 2x4 (...) (23 years ago, 30-Mar-01, to lugnet.general)

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