I'm considering Chrome OE style wheels for my car. I'm ooking for opinions on keeping the current whitewalls, or going blackwall. Here is the car as it sits today. Keep the whitewalls out, or turn them in? Curious to see what Hamb'ers think.
I prefer blackwalls. I sometimes like to see skinny whites on the front and blackwalls on the back just because you saw that a lot in the school parking lot when I was a kid. A lot of the kids would buy an old granny car and the first thing they would do was dual exhaust and bigger tires on the rear. But alas I wouldn't want anyone to think I was trying to repcapture my youth.
It depends on the era you want your car to resemble. I think it looks absolutley bitchen the way it is. It could be out of a time tunnel from when it was a year old. If you keep the whites, keep them clean.
Thanks to all. Looking for a mid-60s kind-of vibe - trying to make the car the way it would have looked as a daily driver / weekend drag car in the 66-68 time period. Torq thrusts, cragars, etc are overdone on these cars, and I know lots of folks were running steel wheels and/or chrome reverse in that era.
it would have had THOSE whitewalls if it was a street car (not stock, but not a full-blown racer-type either). If it were a racer-type - it wouldn't have black steel wheels. dj
66-68? Black Walls and Cragars would rule in my opinion. Add a set of 8.20x15" Hurst Slicks out back and you'd have a real stunner! But it all depends on what you have under the hood. You don't wanna run slicks and not have the nut to back it up the look. If you want to go simple, black walls and dog dish caps would look great too.
Neither! Back in the late 60's we ran redlines! They were the must have tire when I was in high school! Nothing much cooler, and parts stores couldn't keep those red grease sticks in stock for those of us who couldn't afford real redline tires!
Guess it depends on what part of Oregon you were in. The only car I recall running redlines at my highschool was a vette that belonged to one of the Sosch (sic) kids. But that doesn't mean they weren't popular. One of the things that we all forget is that rodding is a regional sport. It varies depending on where you were and sometimes depending on what social group or club you belonged to.
that's cause he was from buffalo....mine dad said the same thing, squeaks and rocks.... we had jocks and heads growing up. I like black tires, does anyone make polyglass tires?
My uncle had a stock '64 Olds Cutlass he used to drag race after he bought it new, he popped the wire wheel wheel covers off when he went to the track. He also wrote "Drag Rat" on the doors with shoe polish, but I assume that he was a dork.
I think you can still buy polys from Coker. I'm pretty sure I saw them in one of their catalogs. It was Sosches and Hoods when I was a kid. Sosch being short for social butterfly and Hood being short for hoodlums. Bet you can't guess what group I belonged to. [A hint most of my friends were Chicanos]
If ya can't decide run whites on one side and blacks on the other to see what you like. I couldn't decide on skirts on my sled. Bubble or Winfield type skirts so I ran a bubble on 1 side and the Winfield on the other for over a year. Only two people ever noticed it and questioned me about it.
back in 66 a high school buddy had one of these, just like your car, with dog dish stock hubcaps, plain jane. but under the hood was a 327, 2 fours, fuel cam, headers, backed by a four speed. busted many a muscle car, big fun.
Actually, you got it right as it stands (as far as your aforementioned purpose goes). I was reading the local obits the other day & saw that an old friend passed away that had a white Chevy II (convertible, actually) the same year as yours. I used to race him with my Covair Spyder, periodically. He always ran his with the skinny whites & no hub caps. That look was very "en vouge" in the mid-60's for street & weekend dragstrip applications.
If I saw this in a parking lot in the 60s, I'd assume that somebody's mother just got her hub caps ripped off. I love the blackwalls and dog dish look but it was NOT a fad in the 60s. It's a modern thing that started in the 80s for the old muscle cars. The first thing that you saved for in the 60s was a set of wheels. I bought a used set of chrome wheels and immediately bought blackwalls for my 63 Catalina.
I have never owned a set of chrome wheels new or used. They have always alluded me but someday I will. I know a funny story about no hubcaps. I used to borrow my mom's car once in awhile. She had a pretty hot '67 Chevelle. It was pretty plain ordered that way. Cloth bench radio delete, dog dish hubcaps, 327, 4 speed posi. I always hated hub caps so she was taking a trip and borrowed my Roadmaster one weekend. First thing I did was peel the hub caps then we brushed super stock wedges on the rear wheels and went to the races behind the school. Long story short she came home early and through a fit about the paint on her wheels. She didn't care about the racing just that I painted her wheels. A little lacquer cured that but not before I got the ass chewin of my life.
I wouldn't do squat to that car-looks great as is! thin whites and black steel wheels look tough as balls.
Thin whites make it look classy. Put black walls on it and it will be drab from the door handles down.
Thanks for all the comments. I do like the black steel wheels and skinny whites. I was just thinking of changing it up a bit. Maybe I'll leave it as-is for now, and consider a pair of chrome reverse and pie crusts for occasional use on the rear. Someone asked what'd under the hood... it's a 327, mild hyd cam, headers, 2.02 heads, blah, blah, blah. Just rebuild the rear w/ 3.36 posi, and have a Muncie M20 4-speed in pieces on the bench right now waiting to get assembled and installed. Not the worlds fastest car, but I think it runs well enough to pull off the vintage street racer look. 327 4-speed Chevy IIs were known for being hot cars in their day.
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