There have been plenty of nifty car inventions during my time, but Goodyear’s illuminated tires were thought up long before I came to be. They were pitched in the 1950s as “the tires of tomorrow” with 18 lightbulbs inside and all different colors of dyed polyurethane. For more than one reason, they never took off, but Goodyear made quite a few before canceling the project. They even recreated a set to install on Jim Street’s Golden Sahara II, a wild kustom that’s just popped up for sale via Mecum.
Aside from a residency at the Petersen in LA, this car has lived at the Klairmont Kollections Automotive Museum in Chicago since 2018. As you might have seen, that wonderful spot is closing down since its owner, Larry Klairmont, passed away. The Golden Sahara II is just one of dozens listed as part of the Larry’s Legacy sale, though you could argue that it has the most historical significance.
George Barris owned the 1953 Lincoln Capri that underpins the kustom you see here. He was driving it through Sacramento when he collided with a hay truck, practically trashing it. Rather than sending it to the dump, Barris decided to turn it into his most ambitious creation yet, and a fella named Jim Street agreed to fund it.
The Golden Sahara’s first iteration debuted with a wraparound windshield, a unique half-bubble top, and paint infused with 24-karat gold as well as actual fish scales in the top coat to give it a glimmering effect. Talk about a bespoke build. There was white mink carpeting, a TV, a telephone, and a cocktail refrigerator inside—pretty highfalutin for 1954. People loved it, and touring the show circuit helped Street make back his $25,000 initial investment.
What came next was wilder still. Street coughed up another $75,000 to create the Golden Sahara II, which not only had cosmetic upgrades like quad-stacked headlights and different bumpers, but also a remote control driving system. Really. This wonderful machine could be driven from outside the cabin in 1956, as it used antennas in the bumperettes to receive commands like “start,” “stop,” “accelerate,” and “brake.” It even had some sort of voice control that baffled showgoers in the middle of the 20th century.
Even with all of these Jetsons-esque features, the Golden Sahara II is most remembered for its Goodyear Neothane tires. We’ve written about these before, so I’ll pull from that blog to provide the backstory:
William Larson, a chemist at Goodyear, worked together with fellow employee Anthony Finelli to create a polyurethane compound called neothane, a material which allowed Goodyear to build a tubeless, cordless tire which could be dyed in a plethora of pigments.
The result was an expressively colored tire which could be fitted to a wheel and provide an accent of individuality.
“Goodyear’s translucent tire can be produced in any color to match the car…or perhaps the wife’s new outfit,” Goodyear’s development manager John J. Hartz said in 1962. ”Someday a wife may tell a husband: ‘Charlie, go out and change the tires. I’m wearing my blue dress tonight.”
But what really made the tire compound unique was the ability to allow light to pass through. Engineers fitted the tires with 18 light bulbs wired into the center of the wheel, creating an electroluminescent-like glow on the ground and in the car’s wheel wells.
Truly, the Golden Sahara II had it all.
The Barris-built car lived a Hollywood life in the 1960s, appearing in movies and game shows. Then, Street somewhat abruptly pulled the car from the public eye, stashing it away until Klairmont purchased it at auction seven years ago. It promptly underwent a restoration, and those glowing tires were a key part of that massive undertaking.
Klairmont tapped Speakeasy Customs in Chicago to do the job. Amazingly, they collaborated with Goodyear and Kelsey Tire to create a new set of glowing rollers. Despite not having used the technology and design for more than 50 years, they were able to make a new set as Kelsey Tire had a mold in the proper size and pattern. Programmable LEDs were used to illuminate them, giving the Golden Sahara II a fresh set of warmly glowing orange Goodyears.
Everything was completed just in the nick of time for the 2019 Geneva Motor Show, but in a run of bad fortune, the Golden Sahara II was damaged in transit. It was riding in a transport truck when the big rig collided with another vehicle, damaging the icon’s driver’s side door, fender, and grille. Danrr Auto Body cleared its schedule to make the necessary repairs so it could be shown at Geneva, and upon its return to the States, completed all the touch-up work to make it pristine again.
That’s the shape it’s offered in now, amazingly with no reserve. It’s set to cross the auction block on Saturday, Sept. 20, and it’s anybody’s guess how much it will go for. Knowing what’s gone into the Golden Sahara II over the past 72 years, though, it’s hard to imagine that any price would be overpaying.
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