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Birth of Bushwheels ?

Goodyear Airwheel. Been around a long time. No approvals that I’m aware of, which is huge difference from Bushwheels. Oh yeah, and tubes, of course.

MTV
 
The Antique Tire and Rubber Company used to make larger tundra tires too and preceded the Airstreak line I believe. They became famous for flat tires if left lonely on the ramp.

Gary
 
The first ones were off produce carts. Guy salmon?? Sold them from the gas station at corner of debar and boniface I was told. Any one have better spelling of his last name or
Info??


Sent from my iPhone using SuperCub.Org
 
The Antique Tire and Rubber Company used to make larger tundra tires too and preceded the Airstreak line I believe. They became famous for flat tires if left lonely on the ramp.

Gary

Antique Tire and Rubber were the producers of Airstreak. Were field approved.

Someone bought it, and changed the name to Bushwheels and promised to get them approved as about that time the FAA decided they needed an STC for safety.

After sales went down because the promised STC never happened, a gentleman from Oregon bought them out, got them approved, and made them the best tire going!:p
 
........Someone bought it, and changed the name to Bushwheels and promised to get them approved as about that time the FAA decided they needed an STC for safety. After sales went down because the promised STC never happened, a gentleman from Oregon bought them out, got them approved, and made them the best tire going!:p

There was a good article in an issue of the old Northern Pilot magazine,
about the time Bill Duncan bought Bushwheels & mioved the operation to Joseph OR.
 
Antique Tire and Rubber were the producers of Airstreak. Were field approved.

Someone bought it, and changed the name to Bushwheels and promised to get them approved as about that time the FAA decided they needed an STC for safety.

After sales went down because the promised STC never happened, a gentleman from Oregon bought them out, got them approved, and made them the best tire going!:p

Actually, sales never dropped, the waiting list sometimes reached over four months depending on the time of year an order was placed. As to STC, given some time the tires of course would have been approved. The sale of the company had nothing at all to do with STC approval.
 
skukum12's dad didn't get the STC for lack of effort.... I remember the red pickup truck he modified the back of to do the tests racing up and down the runway.... he had to do 70 mph touchdowns/spinups!!!
 
Still have the truck, still have the testing device. Took the truck duck hunting on opening day. As to the device, a tree blew over and landed on it thus saving dad's 180 from getting one of it's horizontals amputated.
 
who is james p, found this quote??? The story of James P getting into the tire business is representative of why anybody can be a success in America.

I believe it all started when old man Guy Selman kicked the bucket in the late 80's or early 90's. Well, obviously there was a fat hole in the market for a quality and functional tundra tire. JP used to be the Ak sales rep for the Streaks. After selling untold numbers of new Streaks with cracks in them, and seeing what people were willing to give for them, the capitalist in him was awakened.

Being a businessman and a pilot, he combined these two pursuits and set out to produce a superior product. Every part of the Bushwheel would be new, functional, and if at all possible, good looking. (no blankety blank cracks either.) And it didn't hurt that they were made in Alaska as well.
 
tempdoug is on the right track. I remember being a kid and dad would take me down to Alaska Airlines cargo to pick up a load of new Airstreaks. I asked why the new tires were already cracked but dad wasn't sure as he only sold tires at this point. I always assumed sucking all the air out of them so they looked like sombreros had something to do with it.

I will take a pic of the testing device when I can
 
...new Airstreaks. I asked why the new tires were already cracked but dad wasn't sure as he only sold tires at this point.
Is it possible that they were really old never used military surplus which had been originally intended for another use? Those were just age cracks?
 
not for sure, but it sounded like they got really hot during production and let them cool down to almost room temp and then doing the heat again to add more and this didnt work quite right and made layers that cracked???
 
Once again, tempdoug is on the right track with his information. It boils down to not quite knowing how to cook a tire correctly.

tempdoug, VERY few folks know what you do. If you don't mind the question, where did you get your information? Just curious, I always enjoy the backstory.
 
HA!! lets deal. you get us a calendar quality photo for Johnsons calendar, and it makes the calendar,the birth of the bush wheels machine, and i share my source.:smile:
 
………...JP used to be the Ak sales rep for the Streaks. After selling untold numbers of new Streaks with cracks in them, and seeing what people were willing to give for them, the capitalist in him was awakened......

That 2000 Northern Pilot article about Bushwheels says that Antique Tire and Rubber Company
used a "nonservicable core tire scabbed to new rubber" for their 4" "multipurpose tires" and later Airstreaks.
Jim Pazsint's Bushwheels were different in that they were all new, built from scratch.
 
That 2000 Northern Pilot article about Bushwheels says that Antique Tire and Rubber Company
used a "nonservicable core tire scabbed to new rubber" for their 4" "multipurpose tires" and later Airstreaks.
Jim Pazsint's Bushwheels were different in that they were all new, built from scratch.

Exactly...you could have ended up with a 6" core from a 152 that had seen 20k landings before it became an Airstreak. Scary stuff especially if you were betting your 185 on this construction method.

I have been seeing original Airstreaks here and there lately that are absolutely without cracks and look beautiful. Perhaps there was a mathematical correlation between cooking the tires and beer intake.
 
That 2000 Northern Pilot article about Bushwheels says that Antique Tire and Rubber Company
used a "nonservicable core tire scabbed to new rubber" for their 4" "multipurpose tires" and later Airstreaks.
Jim Pazsint's Bushwheels were different in that they were all new, built from scratch.
could you post a copy of that article??
 
Glen,
Those are an interesting find! Airstreak tires have been around for longer than you think. I first flew them in 1978
on Ward Gays then new PA-18. But all the guides had them for years by then. The story was that Guy Selman
was involved in the Strawberry industry in California and this low preasure tubeless tire was originally produced for
Carts they hauled the strawberrys in . The 26" multipurpose was that tire.......... The ser # stamp set used in that tire Glen, looks identical to Airstreaks produced much later. An old Cubdriver in Wasilla; Ithan Williams used to be the "go to guy" that we got 30" streaks from in
the 80/90s. Selman shiped them up with all airsucked out
of them as already mentioned. I have a picture of Bill Sims (well known in guide circle) and Denny Thompsons spotter pilot in the polar bear days. Bill had landed his Cub
in a pretty bad" rocky "spot; most would NOT think of landing with 31" tires; that was taken in late 1960's and he
Is on those 26" multipurpose strawberry cart tires?? View attachment 3913
 

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could you post a copy of that article??

I can scan it, not sure of the best way to post it here for consumption.
I've seen people post scans or photos of magazine pages on the forum threads,
and as I recall they're not all that reader-friendly.
 
I can scan it, not sure of the best way to post it here for consumption.
I've seen people post scans or photos of magazine pages on the forum threads,
and as I recall they're not all that reader-friendly.


I have the adobe scan app on my phone, works great, saves and emailes as a pdf. great for scanning logs.
 
Dad and I were at a strip that very few planes used, probably about '82, and this guy touches down in his Cub. When I say touches down, I really mean he could have broken an anvil with a rubber mallet. His gear splayed out so far I thought his tires were going to hit the wing struts.

One of us asked why he unnecessarily landed so hard. He said, "Ever since I got these Airstreaks I land as hard as I want to!"

To each his own...
 
I tried posting a pdf of the Northern Pilot Bushwheels article, doesn't seem to want to do it.
??
 
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