Automobile tires were originally WHITE

Knowing this will win you some bar bets: "early tires were white, and only around World War I did they turn black."

“Original tires had a lighter shade because of the natural color of rubber,” a company representative told me. “Carbon black [a fine manufactured soot] was added to the rubber compound in [circa 1917] and produced a tenfold increase in wear resistance.”  "...a tire without carbon black would last “less than 5,000 miles...

The Michelin spokesperson went on, saying carbon black represents about a quarter to 30 percent of the composition of the rubber used in tires today, and in addition to making them more wear resistant, the material that gives tires their black color is also good at protecting tires against ultraviolet rays that can cause cracking, and it also improves grip and general road handling.

Embedded image (credit David Tracy) and text from Jalopnik.  More info with pix at Coker Tire (which specializes in whitewall tires), and at Just A Car Guy.

Addendum:  And a tip of the blogging cap to reader Drabkikker, who notes that the original Michelin Man was white:

via Wikipedia.