Jim Donnelly with The Car Doctor, February 4, 2012

There was nothing in Harvey S. Firestone's early background to suggest that one day, he'd be one of most powerful individuals the auto industry had ever know. Firestone was like a lot of American kids on the far side of the Alleghenies, born in 1868 on a farm outside Columbiana, Ohio. The family had been working the land since his great-great-great-grandfather had migrated from the Berg-Alsace region of France and changed the family's name from its original spelling, Feuerstein.

What Firestone did have was pluck, as the verbiage went back then. He'd founded a company making bicycle and buggy tires in Columbiana. Coincidentally, in Detroit, Henry Ford was raging because normal bicycle tires wouldn't stay on the rims of his original Quadricycle. The vehicle's weight would make them roll off uselessly. Word of Ford's struggles eventually reached Firestone, who was interested in expanding his business.

Firestone recommended a new series of tires that his Columbiana Buggy Works was producing. He assured Ford that each would hold up 500 pounds at one of the Quadricycle's corners. Ford was by nature a skeptical guy when confronted by such promoters, but presumably figured he had little to lose by trying Firestone's tires. A set was mounted and lo, Ford's car ran reliably. Firestone then acquired two partners and, in 1900, founded the Firestone Tire & Rubber Company in Akron.

It cannot be overstated how much Ford and Firestone benefitted each other through their close relationship. In 1907, Firestone visited Dearborn and brought along a new detachable rim design, which already had a Firestone tire attached. The process of changing a flat became bullet-quick compared to what had existed before. Ford gave Firestone the supply contract to put tires on his Model T, which was about to be introduced. The impact was astounding, business-wise. Firestone died in 1938 - beforehand, he, Ford and Thomas A. Edison were close buddies who frequently went camping together - but lived long enough to see his tires used by about half the cars in America.