Allen Park is home to the Uniroyal Tire, the world's largest tire. The tire, moved from the 1964 New York World's Fair to Allen Park in 1966, is 80 feet (24 m) tall and weighs 12 tons. The tire is located off Interstate 94. This 12-ton, 80-foot (24 m)-tall behemoth was built to withstand hurricane-force winds, and served as a ferris wheel (and a huge advertisement for Uniroyal) at the 1964–65 New York World's Fair. Twenty-four gondolas circled the tire where the treads are today, carrying nearly two million people.
In 1998, Uniroyal stabbed the tire with the world's largest nail. The nail was 11 feet (3.4 m) long and 250 pounds. This was done to promote their puncture-resistant Tiger Paw Nailgard tire. The big tire withstood the assault and the nail was eventually removed and given to Allen Park, which then put it up for sale on eBay in 2003 to raise money for a local historical society. The city hoped that someone would pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for the nail, the final price paid by local businessman Ralph Roberts was $3,000 (Roberts lends out the nail for local events).
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