Paul’s friend was driving his own car, I forget where I heard an in depth about it but supposedly the tires on those cars went bad fast, and it was one of the first items they were driving it. Irresponsible, but in those conditions that car had essentially no grip, combined with a car that was legendarily known for being very difficult to drive on atleast 8+ year tires was a recipe for disaster

The more grip the tires have, the shorter their life.

My understanding is that it wasn't a treadwear issue, but more like dryrot..the car had been stored for a long time.

I'm not sure how long tires last in storage, but if they're X years old they can look and feel perfectly new, but not be safe anymore.

I had a car in storage one time and the tires looked great. I took it in for inspection and the guy was like "sorry man these tires are over 5 years old, I can't pass this". At first I was really mad, and then calmed down and realized that there was probably a reason why, so I went ahead and got new tires.

That was the issue, the car had very little miles, but were stock tires

Basically, replace tires if they are 5 years old on cars like that. Age is a big problem.

Generally, 5-8 years. UV exposure makes a big difference.

The less grip your tires have, the shorter your life.

You are right, they were co-owners of the garage.