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The SHELBY AMERICAN
Summer 2016 26
Back in the Winter 2013 issue we ran
a small piece on the Goodyear “Wide
Boots” tire campaign that never was.
[2013 Annual, page 13]. Or so we
thought. But leave it to SAAC’s trusty
‘68-’69-’70 Shelby registrar to turn
something interesting up. He was
cruising the Internet and spotted
these two Goodyear ads showing the
Wide Tread tires being described as
“Wide Boots.” Note in the top ad that
at the same time they were advertis-
ing the Wide Tread GT tires, probably
around 1968, they still had Blue
Streaks available.
The Wide Boots description was also
used in a Goodyear ad featuring a
Javelin. The ad text referred to the
tires as “Wide Boots GT – a new high
performance model of Goodyear’s fa-
mous Wind Boots tire.” However, the
raised white letters on the Javelin’s
tire said “Wide Tread GT.” Based on
this it’s hard to say what Goodyear’s
marketing and advertising depart-
ments had in mind. Our guess is that
the Wide Boots name never stuck.
Eric Veard of Lorain, Ohio spotted this
ad from a 1970s newspaper and when
he stopped weeping he sent it to us.
Wilmington Ford was trying to unload
24 1969 Shelby GT350s – direct from
FoMoCo in Dearborn. Obviously they
were having a difficult time selling
them because they slashed the price
from $5450 to $2895. Oh, to have been
there back then...
Two things going on here. First, Pete
Disher of Marshall, Wisconsin sent us
a website link for the AirCobra throw-
ing axe. It would be one thing if the
manufacturer chose to name this axe
after a Cobra, but are we reading too
much into this in noting that they
named it after an air-Cobra? Is it not
a real axe? The second thing that en-
tered our mind was that Disher saw
this ad on something called the “Big
Muff” website. Despite his weak
protestations to the contrary, some-
thing like that pops up on your com-
puter screen after you have entered
“big muff” into a search field. It doesn’t
appear at random. What could possi-
bly have propelled Disher to search for
something like that? What was he ex-
pecting to find? The mind boggles.
Prosthetics don’t last forever. Lyle
Cigler of Bozeman, Montana took an
Essex Wire t-shirt and had it molded
onto his newest socket. We guess this
means that he will be wearing shorts
a lot more frequently. A lot of people
like 5R098 but we can’t imagine some-
one saying, “
I’d give my right leg to
own that car.
”
Just a suggestion, but this photogra-
pher might want to consider stepping
back 25 feet and using a telephoto
lens. He is so intent on shooting the
baby cobras hatching from their eggs
that he doesn’t notice the protective
mama cobra at his elbow. We’re guess-
ing this did not end well. This photo
was sent to us by SAAC member
Yvonne Kirk of Baltimore, Maryland.
who has either developed a sixth sense
for finding cobras online or the cobras
have found a way to find her. Not lit-
erally, of course.