Hot Rods Vintage Torque Thrust vs Brand New

{ flatout51 } I'll agree that you don't need old wheels to be Cool. I also agree that should buy the ones that you like the best. { old or new }? Or do I care what any one else thinks. But there's a few of us crazy's that just like collecting old vintage mag wheels. Not many will even know the difference. But I know. Like some people that collect old coins and stamps, which will all look the same to me. So if you don't know the diffrence. I'd say buy the new ones. They would proabaly be the best deal. My 2 cents. Original 2 piece E.T. III's and American mags.

 

Old vs new. I have both.

Sent from my SM-G920P using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

Are those both the same width and setback?

 

This debate sounds like the one I had with my (not a car nut) wife the other day.
She sees a new CacaCamaro going down the road and gets all warm and fuzzy and says they look a lot like the old ones (only because she remembers a 67 Z/28 that I pointed out to her at a car show once).
It was a short debate!

 

TomAto--TomAHto- tomato
I figure as long as there are car guys, the wheel debate will go on.
I have 3 sets, One,i run on car ,one set of still in box Americans from rocco and cheaters that had been in shop for who knows how long and a brand new set of TTOs that i got at nats. LOL i'm, trying to figure out how to make them look old.

 

<<<<<<<<Me too!
I sure wish I had figured out how to make the aluminum kidney beans on my roadster look more like magnesium before the tires were mounted.
Any thoughts?

 

{ Blues4u } The new Americans are the Original spoke, Aluminum Torq Thrust 15x8 with a 4.50 back space. The old Americans are Magnesium 15x8 with a 4'' back space. When I buy a vintage wheel, the price is the only factor. You can weld, and re-drill to change the bolt patterns. Plus you can use adapters, and spacers. Also sometimes you may only find one wheel at a time. So these days you can't beat the price, and ease of the new wheels.

 

Have been running these Appliance rip-offs since the 60s. They were original as-cast light gray aluminum, no paint. I had them polished several years ago. Changed out the TorqThrust for Halibrand aluminum repro gasser front-runners when they were made several years ago.

 

Not that i would try on a set of kidney beans...........I've been told easy off oven cleaner, I ain't got the nads to try that.

 

Ashes to ashes dust to dust, what's to lose!

 

Try it on your wheels, tell me how it works out...............

 

isn't that why they invented "Paint"?

 

I have the old style E-T wheels in the torque thrust style. I really like the old time look. But it took me over 20 swap meet wheels to make up a usable set. And they’re not perfect by any means. But they do look right.

 

I've found the new TT wheels to be of exceptional quality, great prices as well.

 

Ultimately if you want the “real” look, you need to find the REAL thing:

 

What the hell, here's mine

 

Do what I did......paint 'em! Worked for me.

 

Oh my!

 

I myself like vintage wheels and like was said, when you are you, can spot new wheels pretty fast. I can't see someone building a traditional 60's style car and using new wheels, if you've built yourself a street rod then by all means buy new, but if you went to the effort to build an older style car please finish it off with correct vintage wheels.

 

So if you happen to like this look on these aluminum slots I can send you a pm on the process.

 

I like the old stuff also. Here's just a few of my Crestline and Mickey Thompson 5 spokes. There may be a few more around here somewhere in boxes

 

How about posting how you do it for all of us to see?

 

Because I'm not responsible...ha ha ha
Honestly I don't have any fresh bead blasted rims to work with right now to do a tech post with. If I come up with something I'll try and document it.

 

Im very partial to old wheels...really fond of ETs in particular...I know the new ET wheels are close to the originals..I find there is always something a little off. Besides..with some hunting at swaps and online, old wheels can be had cheaper. I'm only into this set of 10s and 8.5s about $500

 

Please do.
Did you do them while the tires were mounted?

 

Thank you to everyone for participating! Way more info than I was dreaming I'd get. You guys rock!

 

Yeah, we do!.....

 

WOW!!! I'm also into ET wheels but I am getting the new Vintage Vs for my driver 69 el Camino..

 

I'll use both the old and the new, either is fine with me. The main differences between vintage Torque Thrusts and the new Torque Thrust Originals (TTO) is the use of conical seat lug nuts, and the TTOs with as cast centers have a bit of a "machined" look on the lips. The "machined" look bothers some people, it doesn't bother me. For someone who doesn't like that "machined" look, they can buy the wheels polished (Summit only charges about $15 extra per wheel for polished), then sand and paint the centers. I did this treatment to the front wheels on the Woody in my avatar, new 15"x5" TTOs up front, vintage 15"x7" American Torque Thrusts on the rear. My only issue with the new TTOs is that they are not available in 15"x6" size. Summit's great pricing on the new TTOs makes them hard to beat.


I would also like to point out that dependent on where and when they were manufactured, there was a good deal of variation (different style lips, different style spokes, different style lettering, etc,) in the vintage Torque Thrusts produced by American (let alone all the copy cats). I have 2 pairs of vintage American Torque Thrusts that use conical seat lug nuts, which is unusual (yes, they were produced by American). Also, I have a pair of 15"x6" Americans and a pair of 15"x6" Fentons that are identical down to the placement and style of lettering on the back. The only difference is one pair reads "American Racing" and one pair reads "Fenton Racing". I am certain that these wheels were cast at the same foundry, using the same equipment. There was all kinds of variation and cross over with the Torque Thrust style wheels produced back in the day

 

I'm not sure of the timeline but there was a foundry in Portland that did a lot of the American wheels, I worked with a guy that had a set of "back door" American slotted wheels from there.
I recall him saying that he had to drill the lug nut holes himself which makes me think some of the machining was done here also.
I'm not sure why but years ago the old Centennial Mills building on the Willamette river had many American wheel wood casting patterns bolted to the outside wall but over the years they slowly dissapeared.

Found this quote from Dave Mann of Roadsters.com.
..............these wheels, like many other American Racing wheels, were cast at a foundry in Portland, Oregon. When the foundry shut down in the late 1970s, American Racing then contracted their casting to Rockwell industries. Those wheels do not say "American Racing Equipment" on the insides like the earlier ones.

Good history and identification guide on American wheels here as well as other mfgs.
http://www.roadsters.com/wheels/#ARH