Hi everyone I am looking for a set of 1960 Dog dish hubcaps for my El camino what I wanted to know is what material they are made from? Someone I think it was on Ebay said they are made from Chrome plated brass is this correct? All I know to locate a set in reasonable condition is very hard they always seem to have been knocked around or cracked. Why I ask is I know its fairly easy to restore a set of stainless hubcaps but if they are brass I dont want to go through the process of re-plating them. I missed out on a set of NOS here in Australia for $500 USD whish is a bit out of my budget but I should have grabbed them in hindsight
The full wheel covers are indeed stainless. The small poverty caps are chrome plated brass. They crack and deform extreamly easily. I have a box full of them and they are all cracked from being forced on. Beating them on with a hammer is also common. They were used on Corvetts with high performance brakes for a couple of years. This does not help the prices
Ok thanks makes sense should have bought the NOS set yes competing with the Corvette people does not help. Really strange as most GM hubcaps are Stainless why would they have gone to brass on these ones? I have a set of the full wheel impala covers these are Stainless.
59 and 60 are slightly different. '60 has a raised rib on the outside edge of the face of the cap where the '59 is smooth there. I think this was added as extra strength so the outer edge wouldn't dent as easily when putting them on. If you had a mixed set on a car I doubt anyone would notice but they're definitely not exactly the same.
Do your wheels each have the three little slots for the clips to hold the dog dish hubcaps on? Pontiac caps are made the same way from 55 thru 64 and I'm sure before that even. I'm sure the base on the pontiac ones are steel and possibly the chrome finish is on brass. When you look at backside it appears that the chrome skin is crimped on. Just my 2 C.