I need to pay more attention to stuff when I go buy...I went to buy what I thought was 4 Cragar SS wheels and I thought 2 matched and the other 2 matched with one of them being pretty rough. I go out tonight to clean off the dirt that was covering them and here is what I found out. 2 match. They have a sema sticker on the inside (no pic of that yet) and have stamped in them Made in the USA. They resemble Cragar SS but the spokes are not rounded...they go to a point. They are 14x7 and they fit on my 4.5 ford bolt pattern Falcon. These two are going to buff out nice! One other is a 14x7 and is a Cragar SS. The spokes are rounded and it is stamped made in Mexico. The one that is shot is a 15x7 cragar SS stamped made in Mexico. Are they all Cragar SS? Did the style change at some point? or what are the first two? One other thing I noticed is the single 14" Cragar SS is the kind of uni lug that uses the offset washers. The matching pair do appear to be a uni lug but do not have the recess for the washers. was there a different uni lug setup at some point? Thanks,
I think they're American Racing... http://wheelwarehouse.com/p-1880-american-racing-wheels-t70r-series-t70r-paintedmachined.aspx
Do the astro spokes go to a point or are they rounded? looks like they are rounded. The Rader (which i have never heard of till tonight) look to have a point on the spoke.
One style of "uni-lug" uses an inset washer slug with the lug hole reversable for 2 different patterns. Another style has a smaller width slot and use a thick washer under a tube nut to make up the pattern difference. The tube nut shank fits the slot pretty close.
Radirs (not er... that must be a cheapo knockoff) have three spines in each spoke, they're not what you're looking for. Check out the American Racing or the Rockets, those'r more like it.
yeah, found a rocket...they look a lot like those. well the purchase turned out to be informational to me so it makes it all worth while.
The pointed spoke and the way the uni-lug looks may be a Western Wheel,right prior to closing up International Wheels out of Bencia,CA had cast some wheels similar to those they would be very rare the International has a thicker center and the slot will have a taper rather than being straight up and done.
The Rader mag illustrated actually has a fairly flat spoke face with a central rib. Rader, I believe, was the original name of the wheels, often bastardized as "Radar" and now made as "Radir", I know not why. The coolest wheel Rader made, in my perverse opinion, is a front only 5-spoke with round spokes melding into a central smooth hub with machined bolt pockets. Very stylish when paired with wider slotted mags as illustrated in their catalog on a 55 or 56 Chevy gasser, advertising their hot new product, lakes pipe finned covers. I've only seen one pair of these ever on the front of a 26-27 T roadster which visited Specialized Auto Parts store in Houston over 25 years ago and then disappeared.
well...back out to the shop to take a look and see if there is anything else stamped under the dust/dirt and to get a picture of the sema sticker on the inside of them. I like them and they will clean up nicely. They just have dirt/dust/film on them.
See...told you I could be wrong.... But I dont think so. Look how the spokes go into the mounting plate. The rockets are raised above while the Astro supremes are damn near flush. Theyre def not Radirs. Heh, always good to have a question to ponder.
I really liked the look of Rockets better than SS Cragar's, But they were known for having a problem and it happened to me twice and a friend once, they would crack from the lug hole out,..... it was a shame because I really did like them better.
The one with the pointed spokes is a Rocket for sure...The one with the black spokes looks to be a Cragar GT...Same as the SS but painted spokes. The cap looked like an SS but had GT and instead of blue paint on the cap, they were red...Haven't seen one of those in years...
Don't think those are knockoffs. The spokes are polished aluminum and the rims are chromed steel...Mickey Thompson wheels, aka Raders.
Keystone made a clone of the Crager SS, I believe they were also called Raiders, this may be where some of the confusion is. The only difference between them and the Crager SS's were the center cap.
Your first two are definately Rockets!! I just bought a set of four them for $100. I was told they were Crager s/s also, until he got them out of the rafters. The first set that I have ever seen!!
Yea, thay're rockets all right. I could be wrong, but arent astro's all steel? rockets were composite wheels(cast aluminum center with steel rim) like cragars. As stated earlier, the big differance was the spokes having a defined rib in the middle on the rocket, where the crager are rounded.
The Jalopy Journal
