Looking for some info on the 15x4 200s wheels. What was the original finish on the spoke area? Approximately when were these wheels made? Thanks for the help, Tony
The spokes I think were just natural as cast or argent silver. I believe the 200s’s came out around 71. Do you have a pair of 4”er’s?
Are these ORIGINAL 1st run?? Supposedly there were only 40 something of these wheels ever made.. (the 15x4) I priced a set at some place in WA? and the guy wanted $2000 Bucks for a set of NOS first run!!..You might have an original pair from the first run and could be worth a lot of $$? I looked to these for my '38 Gasser.. I think these wheels are really cool! I might just order me a set of 15 x 4's as a spare Didnt mean to Hi-Jack your thread. best, JW
I looked for a set of those for a long time, only to find out what Amadeus posted. Those things are nearly impossible to find. I have a pair of 15x10 200s wheels that I was going to use to complete the set, but I'll probably just wind up selling 'em. Post up pics when you can. Those 15x4 versions are really unique.
Sandblasting's how I got my used 200Ss ($99 for a set of four, 8 1/2 x 15 in 1982!) clean, after taping off the freshly-polished rim areas. After watching my bought-new '67 Torq-Thrust spoke areas soak up dirt and oil in street driving, I painted my 200S centers with VHT black rubber bumper paint, and they still look great 30 years later. For that "original" look, I guess the way to go would be clear epoxy, perhaps in a "matte" finish rather than gloss.
Yes, these are original 15x4 wheels. I totally came across them by accident looking for 5-on-4.5 front wheels for my straight axle Nova (it has an Econoline axle so my Chevy pattern chrome reverse wheels didn't fit). Sounds pretty hard to believe they only made 40 sets, but I have never seen another pair of the narrow 200s wheels. Will post a few pics this weekend. I remember "patent pending" was cast into the rear face so I would guess they are pretty old. I may trade them for some legit skinny Torque Thrusts! But I will probably fall in love with them and keep them around the garage like all the other stuff I've collected over the years. Tony
Cool! Good to see ARE is remaking these. One thing I noticed is that the valve stems are in a different spot...otherwise they look pretty close to the originals.
So these are the new repo ones? They look really good. Is the rim portion aluminum or steel? Can you provide info as to part number and where you bought them? Thanks, Kurt
big duece- not sure they are offered in big ford 5x5.5 Kevin- I love that photo it's part of the revolving screen saver on my laptop. As the wheels come they are a bit different from the original 15x4's. They are two piece, but all aluminum. The edges come polished and I ordered the "raw" centers. They take the early tapered lugs and come with polished aluminum center caps. I spun them up in a brake lathe and took the polish off, flattened the edge and also drilled the lugs out for shank mag nuts. I am still considering having the valve stem hole welded up and moving the hole to the center like the original. I ordered them from Travis at Pro Performance (480)420-8175. Good guy to deal with and I had them in a couple of weeks.
That's an impressive amount of work but they look great! So the centers are welded to the hoop around the perimeter of the back side?
Not really that much work, I may have 30 minutes total in both wheels from start to finish. And yes the centers are welded around the perimeter of the back. A really neat feature in a wider wheel as you could get a number of different offsets. Doesn't really make a difference on the 4" wide wheel though
What filler rod would be used to weld the valve stem hole shut, so the alum. patch would not be detected. My luck there would be a dime size shadow.
Heys guys are they a true 4 at lot of repo wheels are going 4 but they are really 4 1/2 wide ....thanks
You guys are probably going to hate to hear this, but I bought a pair of original 15x4's and a pair of original 15x10's in small Chevy pattern at the Pate swap meet in Fort Worth last year for $1000. Guy that had them was super cool. Said he bought a '32 Ford back in '72 that had these wheels on it. He pulled them off and put some Torque Thrusts on it and these 200s' had been sitting in his shop ever since. I got super lucky and just stumbled across them. Funny thing is, my dad and I were walking around and saw them, walked by and looked at them and kept walking. Then I decided to go back and buy them after walking around for about 20 minutes. It wasn't until after I had them in the truck on the way home that I discovered how rare they really are. Doh ! I can't believe no one bought them before I could make it back to the guy's spot !!
Mine are originals that were refinished and trued by a shop, when i got them back i sprayed the spokes with a clear made by dupli-color for wheels. going on 5yrs and 20k miles
there were a pair floating around locally...I tried for years (as in 10+) to buy them...they were so dark , you'd swear they were mag....sadly , the owners garage was hit by a tornado early last year and they are no longer in the area....in case anyone in southern ohio has a pair or single mysteriously end up at your place , let me know. and the double diamond firestone rear of mine too....
My dad put a pair of these on my moms essex pickup. They have a goldish tint to them. Oh, and he only paidd $100 for the pair in mint condition.
I just bought a pair of the 15x4s (the new ones) and am awaiting them to ship. They are the rough cast grey version. Sucks that they are using the goofy acorn lugs now. After 40 years of tried and trued shank lug nuts, someone gets a brainfart to change it to save 50 cents. I'll be machining the lug holes for traditional shank lug nuts to match the NOS 15x8 rears I just found and bought.
When I worked for American Racing Wheels I asked why we couldn't get the 200S in 4" wide, We already made several sizes of the 200S... I was told because they didn't think there was enough demand to spend the money to build a 4" mold. After I took my original mag 5 spoke spindle mounts off of my nostalgia Funny Car and sent them to our engineer in California so he could re make the spindle mount 5 spoke again, We had every wheel of the first 3 or 4 runs pre sold and on back order so that convenced the "powers to be" that there was a demand for more vintage wheels along the 4" 200S... and it almost got done, that and the 4" wide Ansen aluminum slot... I noticed they still realize there is a demand because they have added the 4" wide 200S to the line. We had just released the Rodmaster (Halibrand lookalike) in 15x5" 6" 8" and 10" wide and it was a big hit. Then the company was bought by an Investment Group named Platinum Equity.... We had just celibrated our 50th year as an American built and American run company making a profit employing hundreds of people. They came in and let everyone go, everyone was out of work, all of the 43 American warehouses were closed. The Investment Group sent all production to China also ending some of the vintage line and put a limit on all custom shop wheels. Today your American Racing wheels are made in China and funneled through a place called Wheel Pro in Denver to independant warehouses like Jegs, Summit and others. A side note... The Drag Racing Wheel for Competition use originally owned by American is not owned by American Racing today. Platinum Equity sold the RACING WHEEL side of the company and the Race wheels are made in the USA by WELD and Sander Eng..
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