Tyresoles (Henry Simon Limited).
The head offices for Henry Simon Ltd were situated on Birdhall Lane in Cheadle Heath, a few miles away from Stockport (then) in Cheshire. I remember the building myself, having grown up only a few miles away. This letter from the late 1930s also advises that they had offices and works in London W3, which I think is where this letter on factory-headed paper was issued from, in September 1936.
|
|
Henry Simon Ltd could traces its roots back to the 1870s, when its founder put his all-new roller milling machinery into production, revolutionising the industry in a short space of time. The move into the new Cheadle Heath premises took place in 1926, bringing together offices and production facilities onto a single site. The company continued to expand their range of milling machinery throughout the 1920s and 1930s. Associated with the company was another concern - Tyresoles Limited - which was in the re-treaded tyre business (and in fact the name lives on, now based in India). While re-treaded tyres are more often seen on commercial vehicles today, for decades they were also a common choice for motorists on a budget, and to be fair on cars with leisurely performance and driven in a sedate, un-demanding, manner, they were usually up to the job being asked of them.
|
|
The following letter, typed on September 11th 1936 and signed by company representative Kenneth P. Marlow, refers to tests undertaken on a re-treaded Goodyear tyre.
|
|
|
Clearly, a Mr E. Skidmore (an unfortunate name, given the subject!) of Edlington Road in London, had experienced a tyre failure with his 32x6 HD Goodyear tyre. A 32x6, or as they're more often referred to now 650 x 20, was presumably fitted to a commercial vehicle of some kind, HD for Heavy Duty. Most likely it was a Ford lorry, quite possibly a Model BB. The reason I suspect this is that items of paperwork relating to the same gentleman already feature on OCC, in the form of invoices issued to him by a Ford garage, also in 1936. These can be seen on the W.J. Reynolds Ford page. Clearly a tyre on his lorry had given way, with the outer casing that forms the re-tread having separated from the inner casing of the tyre.
|
|
Whether Mr Skidmore took up the invitation to pass future business in Tyresoles' direction isn't known.
|
|
Return to the Motoring Collectables section for more items relating to vintage and classic motorcars.
|
