Originally Posted by Charles Nungester:
I worked for a tire company (Michael Tire Cincinnati) back in 87-88. There was tire for small cars, Escorts, Cavaliers etc called Englebert (Angle Bear pronounced) It was the best street tire I every seen or owned, Sold itself. I went to a Ft Wayne Comets game and north of indy there were areas of six inches or more of snow on I69 and I could hold highway speed no problem.
88 Continental buys em out. discontinues it and continental hasn't made a tire to match it since. While I'll take the spec saves teams some $$ Im not sure your getting the best possible product that can be made. Continentals priority is dividends.
Englebert. Wow, Charles. That name knocked some rust off of this memory bank here.
I can remember reading about their relationship with Ferrari back in the 30s, or so. Enzo got in a pissing contest with whoever was the main supplier for GP racing back then and opted for Englebert, then made in their home country of Belgium. The tires were sub-par but Enzo was determined to make his point.
Looking at Wiki (which anyone can do - this is not my memory reporting now) they were really involved, which much more success, in the 50s both in GP, LeMans, and the Mille Miglia. de Portago's fatal crash in the 1957 Mille Miglia however brought Englebert and Ferrari up on manslaughter changes for it was deemed a blown tire caused the disaster. They were subsequently cleared in 1961.
https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Engleber...e_manufacturer)
Talk about an open TIRE rule! Pissing contests, failure, success, no balance-of-performance, and people coming up on charges!
I never imagined the company was around as long as you mentioned, Charles.
Chiming in live from the West Coast of Michigan.... Mike