I wonder what prompted them to use smooth (treadless) tires?
Large and soft tires are certainly good on snow, but smooth?
Maybe that actually works better on ice?
Large and soft tires are certainly good on snow, but smooth?
Maybe that actually works better on ice?
I suspect that at the time producing and transporting suitable tyres was extremely difficult, so they weren't able to try swapping the original tyres for something more suited to the conditions.
A picture here:
https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2901/14573121102_56c93ec47f_b....
> [...] It was his son, Harry E. Sipe, who popularised the use of sipes in the USA for the new low-pressure balloon tires around 1939.
> The process was not applied to vehicle tires on a large scale until the 1950s, when superior tread compounds were developed that could stand up to the siping process. [...]