Balloon tires on Speedsters

[Luxford]

In a discussion about tires on my Fronty a guy made mention of the use of large balloon tires on a speedster he had seen years ago. I have photo's of Model TT trucks with such tires, they were an option on late 26/27 trucks here in Australia and appear in Ford factory literature.
Never seen a spedster with them but they may have been a good option on the bad roads of the time.
Anyone have a photo of such a speedster? Here are some photo's of the Trucks, one from the Ford travellers book by Ford Australia and one of an enclosed TT truck.

[Allan]

In my late teens I passed on a really nice Late TT truck with the same heavy wheels all round. Too slow for me at the time.

There is a school bus in a museum in Kadina on such a chassis. Volunteers helped to finish the restoration after the vehicle's owner passed away part way through the rebuild. I believe there is a difference in the hubs on those front wheels, but I may be wrong. It does seem logical that there may have been some upgrades to the front axle assembly as part of the upgrade. It certainly makes the TT look more purposeful.

As far as using these on a speedster, I would go lighter rather than heavier.

Allan from down under.

[Luxford]

Allan, A look at the truck in the Kadina Museum would be interesting but I don't think there are different hubs. There is no mention of them in any spare parts books and I have never seen or heard of a mention on the forum or elsewhere in all my years around Model T Fords and I would have thought Bruce would have noted if there was any difference. Its possible we have here another Ford Canada difference similar to the Two Ton Ford Model T Trucks.
First thought looking at the trucks with the wheels is the steering would be heavier and the poor old steering box on the top of the steering column would be under more strain especially once the truck had a good load on.
TT truck owners should be able to throw some light on this if they have ever noticed any diference.

[YellowTRacer]

Without getting to long winded, it depends on what era speedster you're trying to depict. The real era when speedsters were most popular was early teens to just past mid 20s. They were to some degree a sports car of the era. Heavy clunky looking tires don't fit the image. Did someone do it? Of course! Was it something that everyone said "Zowie! that's the bees knees!".......No.

Ed aka #4

[Luxford]

After enquiring further I found mention of a speedster with the balloon tires that was built in 1926/27. Here is a diagram from a 1926 publication in which they call it a "cross country Ford" and a poor newspaper photo of one being driven over rough ground. Again has anyone a better quality photo if not keep a look out a lot of us would be interested.

[TXGOAT2]

"Airplane tires"?

[Luxford]

Yep, the sketch shows aircraft tires but by 1926 balloon tires were available and the picture shows disc wheels with ballon tires.
Aircraft wheels had no tread which would give poor traction for a vehicle.
An ad for 1926 shows a company named Baker making disc wheels for balloon tires, which look to be the same as in the picture.
I think I have just about worked out what we have here.

[RajoRacer]

I had a buddy, now deceased who had a beautiful '25 Coupe w/Baker 21" disc w/ballons - looked good !