History of A. Abramson Tire Company

A. Abramson Tire Company was first established in 1917 by Aaron Abramson in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

 

Aaron's story began in the early 1900's when he left Russia for Sweden. Aaron's first job was sewing treads on bicycle tires at the World’s Fair in Sweden. He then moved to Copenhagen, Denmark, where he worked as a waiter at Tivoli Gardens. In 1916, Aaron married Rose Kolkin and he came to the United States in 1917. He bought a horse and wagon and picked up tires that needed repair. He bought one vulcanizing mold and officially started A. Abramson Tire Company. His son Al joined the business in 1934 and his other son, Joe, joined in 1936. The company survived the Great Depression and the shortages of World War II by working hard and always being fair and honest to their suppliers and customers.

 

Eventually by the 1950's, A. Abramson Tire Company had 16 molds and 2 spotters and capacity was over 75,000 used vulcanized tires per year. Their supply of used tires came from the major oil companies; Esso, Gulf, Mobil, Amoco and Getty.

 

A. Abramson Tire Company started purchasing the oil companies discontinued and blemished new tires in 1950. This was their entrance into new tires. This business eventually grew to purchases in excess of 375,000 new tires per year by the early 1980's.

 

In 1957, Aaron died and a new partnership began between sons Joe and Al and Aaron's wife Rose.

 

After being discharged from the US Army in 1965, Marshall Abramson (Al's son and Joe's nephew) joined the company full time. Marshall had worked part-time for the company since 1954 when he was 12 years old.

 

In 1966, all vulcanizing equipment and white wall processing molds were scrapped. Marshall removed the remaining 6 vulcanizing molds and 2 white wall processing molds and began the exclusive new tire business. He also purchased the first Oku semi-automatic winter tire studding machine to be purchased by an independent tire wholesaler.

 

Rose died in 1970 and A. Abramson Tire Company became an equal partnership between Joe and Al Abramson. In 1979 Marshall purchased a minority interest in the company and in 1989 Al retired. Joe and Marshall became equal partners until 2006 when Joe died.

 

From 1975 through 1993, A. Abramson Tire Company had its own private label tire production. The brands were Dorchester, Grip Save, Tour Ride, Plaza, Revere and Cavalier. These tires were manufactured by Uniroyal USA, BF Goodrich, General Tires, Mohawk Tires, B.F. Goodrich – Canada, Uniroyal – Goodrich Canada, M.A.S.T. Canada.

Present Day

We specialize in buying large quantities of discontinued first class tires and cosmetic blemished tires from tire manufacturers and mass merchandisers. We currently carry Kelly Tires and Lemans Brand Tires. We celebrated our 100th anniversary in 2017.