Budd–Michelin rubber-tired rail cars Budd–Michelin rubber-tired rail cars The Budd–Michelin rubber-tired rail cars were built by the Budd Company in the United States between 1931 and 1933 using French firm Michelin's "Micheline" rail car design. Michelin built its first rail car in 1929, and by 1932 had built a fleet of nine cars that all featured innovative and distinctive pneumatic tires. In September 1931, an agreement signed between the two companies allowed Budd to use the new rubber rail tires on its shot-welded, stainless-steel carbodies, and at the same time allowed Michelin to expand into the American market. After building two demonstrators in what
Rubber Factory removed, and it was officially demolished in 2010. The factory was located on the corner of S Seiberling St and Little Cuyahoga River in East Akron. The vacant lot in which the factory used to stand appears on the cover of the band's 2011 single "Lonely Boy". The sleeve artwork for "Rubber Factory" was designed by the group's creative director Michael Carney, the brother of Patrick Carney. The artwork is a collage of 'historic' local features, mainly from the desolate east side of Akron—abandoned storefronts, tire piles, the Goodyear blimp, and even the Cathedral of Tomorrow's unfinished tower restaurant depicted