Uniroyal US Royal Ferris Wheel – New York World’s Fair 1964
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One of the fair’s most recognizable attractions, this 80-foot-tall structure combined a functioning 24-car Ferris wheel with a giant replica tire, complete with realistic tread and sidewall markings. Built to promote the U.S. Royal (later Uniroyal) brand, it symbolized the booming automobile culture of mid-century America—so much so that Richard Nixon and Jackie Kennedy were among its early riders.
Although it looked like a monumental piece of sculpture, the structure was in fact a standard Ferris wheel encased inside an enormous steel-and-vinyl tire shell. More than two million visitors rode it during the fair.
After the fair closed in 1965, the wheel and tire took separate paths. The Ferris wheel was sold and relocated to Atlantic City, where it operated for several years. The massive tire façade was transported to Michigan and installed alongside Interstate 94 near Detroit Metro Airport, where it remains a landmark to this day—now known simply as the Uniroyal Giant Tire.
Though no longer a ride, the tire is still a familiar roadside icon of American automotive history and one of the few surviving elements of the 1964–65 World’s Fair visible in the modern landscape.
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