Art & Inspiration Mag wheels, Gotta have them, Biggest trend ever

Mag-nifcent thread.

 

As a youngster in the late 50's and early 60's, all the cool cars had chrome reverse and then mags. With the exception of 3/4 ton trucks, all my stuff has had mags.

 

It seems like some people obsess over those shitty old charcoal ones....

 

I like the new ET spoke wheels, they look exactly like the old ones from the sixties and seventies.

My favorite is the Z-28 five spoke Rally wheels. They look great and can really take a beating and stay true. Those steel Chevy Rally wheels are some very strong wheels..

 

Everything I’ve had has gotten some sort of wheel change. Most have gotten mag wheels, but sometimes steels or Chevy rally’s in a larger than stock size. One OT 80’s El Camino got Trans Am WS6 snowflakes.

if it has stock wheels and I’m driving it . . . It’s a rental car.

And yes, even my raceboat trailers had ET slots.

 

That right there is (almost) better than sex!

Yes, and we are a completely misunderstood bunch!

 

I prefer to be called a collector, I just need to get everything collected before the hoarders get their mitts on them!

 

The charcoal ones @bowie speaks of are the only actual ''Mag'' wheels.
Guess ''Al''doesn't sound as racy..

 

I like the older ones.....

 

And there really are only two brands worth noting:

 

Hello,

When “mag” wheels came on drag racing hot rods and sleek race cars, it was an obvious choice to adapt them to our street daily use cars. But, the initial cost of those new fangled “mag” wheels was too much for the normal teenager or even those with minimum paying afterschool jobs. We all stuck to our inexpensive spray painted wheels and small hubcaps. Even chrome wheels were out of the picture as our pocketbooks just could not cut it at the time.

So, for mag wheels, it was a very rare time when someone rolled into the drive in parking lot with a new set of “mags” on their hot rod. But, the thought of our cars with American Racing 5 Spoke Mags was always on the back of our minds.

Jnaki

The missing “racy” look that was the goal of a teenager…

What popped up in our minds Versus what we ended up with for our daily drivers.
The build, power, and quickness was still prevalent on the daily uses and long road trips, but...

NOTE:

I had known this girl for a couple of years and had been over to her house plenty of times in the 58 Impala. I even traded her older brother, a new set of 5 spoke American Racing Equipment mags for a 9’6” Dale Velzy Balsa Surfboard. The board did not ride well, but it was a classic that could not be bypassed.

So, I used our Precision Racing Engines shop discount at Moon Equipment and installed the 4 American Racing Wheels on the 63 Buick Riviera. The Riviera was low in stance from the factory and with the new American Racing Equipment Mags, became the coolest cruiser anywhere. The 1963 Riviera’s had just come out and very few if any had custom touches done.
Similar in color and wheels
Note two:

By the time my wife and I were able to afford a nice set of American Racing Equipment Mags, it was on her choice of another El Camino. She said those "mags" made any hot rod, truck or station wagon look cool and racy.

 

Yes, believe it or not, in the mid/late 70's to some time in the 80's, Torque-Thrusts were NOT cool.

 

How about an American that's a Fenton Hustler III? Check out the font on the letters.

*Edit - @chubbie , check it out! Sell me your orphan single and I'll have a pair!

 

In the early 80s we didn't have the internet and every Sunday it was a race to get the Sunday paper and read the classifieds. One Sunday I saw an ad for a set of 4, 8.5X15 American racing wheels.....$100. I leaped into my 70 ElCamino and drove the 3 miles to the address...was the first one there and immediately laid down the greenbacks. By the time I had the lady paid and began loading, 3 separate car loads of guys showed up to buy them. They {the American Racing Wheels} were popular that day.

 

They have ALWAYS been popular... you just had to be at the right place, at the right time!

 

The Kansas City Star used to be a good newspaper with lots of classified ads until the internet age. The Sunday Star was actually published Saturday night and was available at about 8:30 if you knew the dock guy. The calls went something like "I'd like to have some information on the xxxxx you have advertised in tomorrow's paper."

 

Always wanted Halibrand 4-small window rear and 5 window front runners on my Willys from the beginning. Got the car in '64 as a sophomore in HS. Couldn't afford Halibrand so settled for Appliance TorqThrust knock offs. The a guy in Mojave CA. cast a limited run of the Halibrands in aluminum in the late90s/early 00s so I bought them. Then I found a set of Halibrand 8.5x15 medium window mags for the rear. I bougth them and ran them with new/old original Inglewood Pos-A-tractions for a bit. Ran them corroded green then had them polished and ran them that way a bit. I realized real mags are too high maintenance for me and I needed the slicks for my Mysterion clone project so had the old Appliance wheels polished and now run them full time.

 

I'm going to have to get the aluminum drums for the back of my el Camino once I get the Spoked ET wheels..

 

Basically everything on wheels that I have ever owned has had something other than factory wheels put on it.

 

Those aluminum drums look so nice behind those spoked aluminum wheels.. Cardone sells a real nice looking set of 9" 5 x 4-3/4" bolt spacing, aluminum drums that fit the 10 and 12 bolt rear ends ..

The guy down the auto parts store said I will order five or six of them because I know you will keep bringing them back until you find a perfect one.. I wish he would let me take all six and check them out for the best one.. But they've been beat too many times by people they never would of expected..

 

Mags are for guns, wheels are steel.

 

This is what I'm going to on the front of the '63 for S/S look. Creme white steelies on the rear. Got the stance now, just need to finish up the look.

Joe

 

Agree - that grey SS wheel was on my first hot rod 1964 Chevy running a 396 and a 4sp....

 

Keystone Klassics on these for me I also run Cragers on another 65 Plymouth and the OT 69 Road Runner.

 

plan to run Cragers on this one.

 

Lets not confuse the term mag wheel with magnesium wheels. The term is thrown around loosely to descibe almost any after market wheel. Most of the pics so far have been aluminum wheels. Heres a few of mine. There is nothing like polished magnesium.

 

Oh yeah, a teenage hotrodjack HAD to have mags...a pair of M/Ts on the rear. It had a 5 bolt '57 Chevy rear but still had the 6 bolt wheels up front

 

5 spokes on all my stuff.