Chevy wheel question......?

I just got a 63 Pontiac Laurentian thats been in a shed for 25 or more years. Now remeber this is in Australia so should have the chevy stud pattern. What I want to know is did chev ever make a 15'' steel wheel with a saftey bead thats not a ralley...?

 

What does this Poncho look like??..
Got pictures???..

 

Any particular era or width you're looking for?

'73-'77 GM "A" body cars had 15" wheels with the 4-3/4" bolt pattern.

I believe they are 7" wide.

 

Well, I dunno about over there but "stateside" a '63 Pontiac either has a 5 stud on a 5" bolt circle pattern or it was a "Grand Prix" wheel with that "wide 5" looking pattern...

 

Laurentian's are Canadian Pontiacs, Canadian Pontiacs have Chevy chassis and drivetrains therefore have a 4-3/4" bolt pattern.

However I've been known to be wrong before!

 

That is correct, a Canadian made Pontiac Laurentian would have the chassis and wheels of a full size Chev.

I think they did have safety rim wheels but can't swear to it. I believe all cars that used tubeless tires had them, although they were invented by Chrysler a good 10 years before tubeless tires.

 

Now I did not know that! Rather interesting! Thanks Rusty!

 

Well, If what I am looking at when I google "1963 Pontiac Laurentian" is the car you are all talking about then there is NO WAY it has a 4 3/4" bolt pattern, chevy drive-train in it. That is nothing but a Canadian Pontiac Catalina.. And NO '63 Chevy chassis or drive-train part will work on that Pontiac Body. 100% completely different cars... The Chevy was a "wasp waist" frame design and the Pontiac was a "perimeter" frame.

 

Argue with the Canadian about a Canadian Pontiac. I'm just a Pontiac guy across the lake from him.

 

Chrysler introduced safety rim wheels across the board in 1941. They had a ridge pressed in the steel rim, just inboard of the tire bead, to stop the tire from coming unseated if the tire went soft or flat. This made the car much easier to control.

Though Chrysler held the patent they offered free use of their invention to the industry in the interest of road safety. Nobody took them up on it because of the cost - less than a dime per wheel. Chrysler never cheaped out when it came to safety.

The first tubeless tires were announced by B. F. Goodrich in 1947.

 

It is not an argument and it is not about you, It is about a guy asking a question and since I have over 35 years hands on experience in this field with these cars I have offered Him my knowledge. I first began building Super Stock Chevys & Pontiacs in the 1970's and am putting the finishing touches on a '62 409 car now. I crewed on a 421 powered all aluminum front end Pont SS'er in 1972, & have a '64 Catalina 421 Restoration coming to my shop in January 2013.... Take my opinion for what you want.

 

So nothing has changed in the auto industry in 72 years!

 

Sorry Kenncat the Canadian Pontiac was a Chev with Chev chassis Chev engine and Chev wheels, disguised in Pontiac sheet metal. Even the sheet metal was unique being shorter (Chev wheelbase) than the US Pontiac.

If you look close you can see that the Canadian Pontiac does not have the "wide track" chassis of the American Pontiac. Notice how the wheels tuck inside the fender wells like a Chev.

 

Didn't you see the smiley?!?!

 

The answer to the question is...YES.
I just picked up 4 wheels, 15" with the 4 3/4" bolt pattern.
They are from mid 70's GM products.
If you want to see a mild difference in CDN Pontiac and 'murican, have a look at a '55 Pontiac front fender. The radius is different. CDN has a flat top on the opening. They were Chev powered.

 

Oops... that's the other thing that comes with all this "experience"... Poor vision...

 

YES, a '55 IS the same Glass, Chassis parts, etc as a Chevy.. A 1959 and newer is completely different

 

kennkat: The Laurentian is Chevy powered on a Chevy chassis. Canadian Pontiacs were built with Chevy components until 1970.

'69 Pontiac 2+2 fender emblem...



If you still don't believe us, go poke around here...

http://canadianponcho.activeboard.com/


...

 

To stop any more arguments, it is on a chev chassis and has chev power with you guessed it chev stud pattern.

Here are some pics from my phone i took when i picked it up.

Here it is at my garage

and here it is the day I draged it from its slumber.

 

^ Notice the "not wide track" Chev stance.

 

Yes that did, they are 5 dollar wheels at about any wrecking yard on this continent. Well probably 25 in this economy.

 

Hey 53chevpickup, have a sniff at Jag rims, they are the same stud pattern (so is HQ-WB) Some of these may have had 15's. Nice Laurentian too, you gotta leave the dust and cobwebs on it!

 

53chevpickup,
If you cannot find what you are looking for on your continent they wheels are pretty common here. Give us some idea what you want and perhaps we can locate some and put them on a boat for ya.

 

Show a picture of the bottom of the car, then a 1963 chevy... There are no chassis that ever fit a chevy body that will fit that Pontiac! IF SO SHOW ME, Please

 

I think he is more concerned about 15" wheels but I am pretty sure that all it takes to run a Chevy style chassis under a poncho is a chevy style floor board.

I saw a 32 ford sedan with suicide doors once, it was built in England. You have to remeber that we as a rule are accustomed to vehicles built in the United States once the manufacture moves out of the country the rules change.

So you gonna help the kid find wheels or what?

 

Dang I was kind of surprised to see an expert on here admit he was wrong but that didn't last long. By now everyone with any knowledge of old cars should know that versions for other countries were different. Hope the op found himself some G.M. wheels.

 

Canadian Pontiacs are chevy's with a Pontiac body on them. Having a few CDN Pontiac's and Chevs I know that all the running gear is the same. Check out Cdn Poncho website, it will answer all your questions. PS, Canadian Pontiacs are not allowed to run in NHRA class drags as they do not recognize these cars because they were not built in the USA.
http://canadianponcho.activeboard.com/t42972870/cdn-poncho/

 

53chevpickup. Nice solid car you have there. 283/glide? As for the wheels, what GM vehicles are common down under? '77 - '87 full size Chevy, '77 - '85 full size Olds, S10/S15, the list goes on for us.

kennkat. Here's a '64 Canadian "Pontiac" chassis and a link to the source.

http://www.bruneauperformance.ca/64parisienne.html

 

It would take an "expert" from California to do that.

As far as I know Canadian Pontiacs have always had Chevrolet drive trains in them but that doesn't mean that the wheels are necessarily 5 on 4-3/4 as a number of big Chevrolets have had a 5 on 5 bolt pattern.

I've worked on cars for 50 years and wouldn't know a "safety rim" if it jumped out and bit me on the butt. Is that a rim that holds a tubeless tire or is it something for a 4X4 off road rig?

A quick id on the bolt pattern of the car is that every 5 on 4-3/4 pattern hub I've seen on the pre metric car has had 7/16 lug bolts All the 5 on 5 hubs from the same period have had 1/2 inch lug bolts. That's usually a simple field test to tell which you have.

 

So this is the deal. It is definatly a 5-4 3/4 pattern. It is indeed on a chev style chassis (will get pics when I get out to the shed this week...(its on my new property) and as 36roadster said same as jag and later Holden pattern.
As for what is common in the 77-87 years...NOT BLOODY MUCH...! Our local production of cars really took of in the late 60's so we saw less and less imported stuff.

This car was 327/powewglide from the factory but the origional owner cooked the engine so got Pontiac (AKA Chevrolet) over here to fit a new 350 as that was the new engine at the time.

Now...I looked at the steel wheels from speedway motors and am considering them as the price is good, but want to know if anyone has used them and any feed back on them is much appreciated.
AND CAN WE ALL STOP ARGUING.......!