"old style" Baby moon caps

Are we agreeing that the Original Cal Custom Baby Moons are NOT the pointy ones? I've had a boatload of them on my cars and there wasn't a pointy one in the bunch. I've reread the thread a few times and I'm not sure the OP has the info he's looking for yet.....Cal Custom (Round), Trailer Thingies (Pointed)......

 

That's the problem I'm having.

Got a set of Mr Gasket 4580s for my Ford, the material is so thin I can't get them on without dimpling them. I've tried everything I know to try & get them on without denting 'em - so far no luck.

Has anyone solved this problem?

 

try hubcapmike.com he repros them and most oldschool caps including 57 caddys, i seen his caddys and you can't tell the difference from originals...worth a peek

 

Even back in the day baby moons were very hard not to dent when installing them. The pointy ones are neat, I'd never heard or seen them before. Must have been a west coast thing?

 

Guys,

Check on Pete Paulsen Wheels in Northern Cal. He sells them and they are period correct!

Rap

 

That is very true. Guys that weren't really careful dented the original Cal Custom ones right out of the box the first time they put them on quite often.
I managed to pick up a set of original Cal Custom baby moons for the later wheels when some friends closed out their parts house that had been in business since the 60's and never threw anything out. Those will go on a set of chrome reverse wheels someday.

 

Here's a better picture that might help. This is one from a set that I ordered from Bell Auto for my roadster back in '59 so they are probably the real deal.There is no markings or lettering anywhere on them other then that half moon notch on opposite sides of the cap. The depth measurement as shown is just a hair shy of 3 1/2 inches.
These were the "hot setup" on almost every West Coast roadster from Grabowski's T to Neal East's roadster which is why I had to have a set. The complete package was '47/'48 Merc 15 in. rims painted body color, with these caps and '50 Ford beauty rings. The 2 1/2 wide whites were optional.
East coast guys favored Caddy and Olds style caps and everybody loved Dean Moon's full spun covers. How many of you admit to drilling your rims for the three screws that held them on and then your tire went flat?

 

The first picture is one of a set I bought from Von Franco in the early '90s. They are the ones on my roadster in the avatar. When he sold them to me he said the box in time will probably be worth more than the caps. He might have been right. It measures just three inches from the center to the outer connecting ring as shown above. The next shot is the one I just bought for a quarter that measures three and a half inches.
I never had any trouble with denting the Cal Custom or the old trailer caps when mounting them but the new S.S. set I bought from Sacramento Vintage Ford I dented two out of four putting them on.
Not sure why that half inch makes so much difference to me now. The only one that might notice the difference is maybe Pat Ganahl. But that might be enough. He did notice and mention at last years LARS that I had replaced the Mustang engine in my roadster with an early '50s Cad. Made my day.

 

Just reread my posts from the first page when this thread was first opened.
It was like Dajavue all over again.
Sorry

 

Guys, the old style are on the kookie kar, Cal Customs are on my Ford, and Summitts are even more different - had them on my tbucket and they went with it when I sold it.

 

The Cal Custom's look perfect on your shoebox. It would take a keen eye to tell the difference from the '50s trailer cap. Some of us though because of some anal reason need to find a set of the old ones.

 

Thanks, I think the "old style" would only fit on the older wheels with the clips to hold them on. Just guessing based on what I had on my old '41 Plymouth.

 

I think they made both types. I think the ones I got with my 48 Plymouth that fit the rims with the clips are the old ones. Page one of this thread. And the one I just bought that fit a 48 and earlier Ford rim is an old one too.

 

Score two more near perfect, I bought this early morning at the Sacramento Ca. Swap. $5 each. Their still out there folks.

 

This was just crazy...I'm sure glad I got my set before they went through the roof!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/_W0Q...spagenameZSTRKQ3aMEWAXQ3aITQQautorefreshZtrue

 

Me too.

 

I think we paid something like $ 1.95 each in the 50's and 60's. Wow, why didn't I fill up a warehouse with this stuff back then?

Don

 

^ Yeah I was going to bid on those but at the last minute they went through the frickin roof!

 

Ya don't suppose the "lurkers" who saw this post had anything to do with it?
"There's a thread about them on the HAMB, they must be cool, so I better reach into my deep pocket and buy them." OR, "I better put these on Ebay while they're a hot topic on the HAMB"
Crazy part is, they aren't even NOS. Imagine what an NOS set would sell for then!?!?!?!?!
On the positive side, the photo's do a great job of illustrating the reason they are different than modern "baby moons"

 

Here's a set of the pointed trailer one's. They are still reasonable.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/e...viewitem=&_trkparms=clkid=2492032955774115877

 

A buddy of mine just bought some from a trailer sales company that are like the ones on Bleed's awesome 34. Damn is that pickup a bad ass, but what else would this bad ass drive. Good luck. ~sololobo~

 

I got mine here:http://www.earlywheel.com/hubcaps.html

 

Maybe I can help clear this up: looks like the baby moons you show--the ones you bought from Von Franco--are made by Cal Custom, but they're the earlier style, the ones that pop "into" early-style Ford wheels.

Cal Custom also made the later baby moons though--the ones that pop "onto" later Ford wheels, and other makes, too.

I just scored a set of these NOS later baby moons by Cal Custom. The box has the later Cal Custom logo (not the one with the '41-'48 Ford custom) and it says they fit everything from early Thunderbirds to Mustangs to V-8 Comet.

Basically, '60s 14-inch wheels. I'll take some photos and post them here later today.

 

i wish i knew they were this hard to find,i got rid of 6 or 7 last year-way too cheap! damn!

 

Putting on baby moon or the similar early Ford small caps without denting them can be a challenge. I have the later 46 type caps on my 27 and those are pretty thick and dent resistant compared to the 1940 caps on my Son's rpu.

What we found (after denting a couple and having to replace them ) was that it helps to have two people install the cap. First you cock the cap down into the center of the wheel so that it is seated on two of the 3 nubs and the first person holds it firmly in place. Then the second person (with a rag wrapped around his fist for cushioning) smacks the hubcap ON AN ANGLE so it is forced against those two nubs and also into place.

Hard to explain, but basically you don't want to try seating the hubcap straight into the wheel, but more on an angle. You also want to hit the cap on the edge, as opposed to the domed part on the side, as that dents very easily. One sharp rap on the corner angled like that will usually snap it home.

We also wrapped electrical tape around a flat bladed screwdriver where it touches the wheel so that we can pry them back off without scratching up the wheel paint too bad.

Don

 

That is another good thing about the old ones. I have never dented an old one putting it on.

 

Drake sells a tool for removing hub caps it's in their catalog, sort of a leaverage thing that hooks on the top of the cap and has a bar that is about 20-24" long that goes from the bottom of the rim up just pull that bar and the cap should come off. I didn't buy one but after reading this I am..

 

Wow--what a bloodbath that auction must have been! I gotta start hitting more swap meets, that's for sure. They HAVE to still be out there.

 

Okay, here ya go: pix of my NOS, deadstock set of 14-inch Cal Custom baby moons.

Unfortunately, they're also listed in the classifieds, but what can you do?

 

btt