Tire School and Concours with Kim Barnes of Michelin Vintage

In BaT Podcast Episode 84, Alex interviews the overwhelmingly knowledgeable Kim Barnes, who is the business development manager for vintage tire fitments at Michelin as well as a concours judge, car and motorcycle collector, and all-around friend of BaT. They talk about her love of cars as a child of the '60s and '70s, stemming in no small part from the split-window Corvette driven by her aptly named second-grade teacher, Miss Passion; keeping an AMC Gremlin trading card for decades until finally acquiring the real thing; starting a Schwinn bicycle restoration business in her mother's townhouse at the age of 12; daily driving an MGB GT for 350k miles; the highly effective, at least for one teenager, automotive product placement in Charlie's Angels; starting out on the auto show circuit at 16; being forced to take Home Ec instead of auto shop in school; the importance of mentoring young people; meeting her husband on a blind date predicated only by their mutual car enthusiasm; her path to her dream job at Michelin; fightin' words about stock vs modified tire sizes; a deep, deep dive into the various ranges of classic tires offered by Michelin; a simplified explanation of the main difference between bias-ply and radial tires; getting into concours judging via her own restored Sunbeam Alpine; tracking her Buell Thunderbolt; and skipping right to the top of the 964 heap.

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The full episode is linked above—or you can listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Links for other titles/listings discussed in this episode:

45:44 fireboltgirl user page

46:40 Le Mans–Style 1957 Triumph TR3

49:02 1972 Saab Sonett III

49:08 Supercharged 1958 Austin-Healey Bugeye Sprite 5-Speed

49:45 ZZ427-Powered 1973 Chevrolet Corvette Convertible 4-Speed

49:53 Unrestored 1964 Sunbeam Tiger Mk I

Got questions for the BaT staff or suggestions for our next guest? Don’t hesitate to let us know! Write in to [email protected] and we’ll do our best to address them.