Calm before the storm
Today marks the 61st year Elmer Morlan will work the first day of the studded-snow-tire season.
While his competitors may feel snowed under as drivers line up for studded tires, Morlan will go about his business at Morlan Tire Company, 720 E. Sprague Ave., in his usual low-key way. Morlan, who turned 87 last week, has seen it all many times before.
Many regular customers will swing by his shop today, the start of Washington’s studded-tire season, which runs through March 31. Idaho allows studded tires from Oct. 1 through April 30.
Some of those customers may stay around a few extra minutes to chat. But time passes differently here.
Morlan Tire Company is frozen in another era. It’s more Mel’s Diner than Internet café.
Inside the waiting area, a tire chart for 1985 original equipment hangs on the wood-paneled wall. Dozens of dusty business cards fill a bulletin board. On a coffee table sits a copy of People magazine. It has ET on the cover.
“This is a historic place,” said Lane Morlan, who is Elmer’s nephew and helps run the business. “We’re an independent shop. That’s what our country needs.”
Elmer Morlan remembers his early years as a tire salesman, when locally run stores were the kings of the road. He’s a little fuzzy on the dates when asked about his years in the business. He began working in 1943 when he took a job at the old Melcher Tire Store. Soon after, he and his late brothers, Garvin and Joe, bought the business and established Morlan Tire Company.
“Elmer would run around in his pickup and sell tires to service stations,” said Lane Morlan, who learned how to change a tire when he was 10 years old. “From the time he got into the business, Elmer was a real intelligent operator.”
Morlan grew up in Osage County, Okla., and left school in the seventh grade. He later earned what is equivalent to today’s GED.
Aside from the tire business, he and his wife, Lillian, have owned a large wheat, pea and barley farm in Worley since 1947.
In the tire business, his moniker is Elmer “More Miles” Morlan. His ads, back when he ran them in the newspaper and on the radio, always began, “Elmer sez.”
“I used to say on the radio, ‘Elmer sez, take your car where the experts are,’ ” Morlan said.
His shop, which expanded to six bays in the 1950s, was the hub of the Northwest retread business. It was a time when ground walnut shells or sawdust were used on tires for winter traction. The only reminder of those days is found in the back room of the garage, where dozens of worn tires are haphazardly stacked alongside outdated retread machines.
In another room, current customers’ tires are neatly stored on racks, tagged and ready to be mounted on rims so the crew can make the summer-to-winter switch. Morlan’s is one of the few merchants that still offer storage service.
Morlan estimates more than 1,200 tires are kept in his garage. Almost all the winter tires are studded. Some tires are siped or cut, which allows tread blocks to flex and conform to the ground easier.
Morlan said the latest trend is to use tires that are both studded and siped.
He said he doesn’t know what all the fuss is about regarding the Washington state Department of Transportation’s talk of prohibiting studded tires. Since 1971, the use of studded tires has been restricted from Nov. 1 through March 31. Prior to that, studs could be used year-round.
“They say it’s bad for the roads. What do we put the roads there for? To drive on,” Morlan said.
Although Morlan talks of retirement, he’s known to change his mind about the subject. But there’s always his 61-year-old nephew Lane to lean on when the time comes.
Even though this time of year is old hat to the tire dealer, it’s not just any old week.
“For two, three days they’ll be rushing in. Then it will slack off and they’ll wait until it snows,” Morlan said.