Original series D’s upfront, original series torq’s outback : 439918.jpg by bowie posted Jan 13, 2013 at 8:24 PM 439902.jpg by bowie posted Jan 13, 2013 at 8:20 PM
Hey Bowie, I'll give you twice as much as you payed for those D's. I'm betting a large number of people wouldn't even spot the difference between the two. I even had a guy say his new aluminum D's look just like the original "mags".
1961, I was STILL reversing '49 Mercs, for the rears I'd slip on Buick 'rims' to the Merc centers. Regular business going, my '46 Ford Club coupe had reversed Mercs all around, midnight blue, matched the body. Black tires hinted at the Hemi under the hood. Everybody liked that car, but when American Racing evolved from Romeo Palemides' hands in '62, I ordered 4 new American Mag wheels, to be delivered to Grandma's house by Greyhound. San Francisco freight to Santa Clara, had them 2 days later. Bus driver stopped on Lincoln St. to deliver them. (my great aunt 'Birdie', Grandma's sister, had the driver let her off at Grandma's once a week when she visited. The driver knew us, and the house. Dedicated stop on an Express Route? Only at Grandma's!) So...$240.00 plus tax later, I'm opening boxes on living room floor, a note in large black letters... "If these wheels are used on street, they MUST be removed and X-Rayed every 60 days for cracks." Shit. Oh well, we'll see. That night, after slaving to put my nice black big-n-little blacks on these shiny-rim, gray spoked beauties with their little chrome (metal) caps...I ventured down to R&J drive in, turned the parking lights on (modified with 2 filament '50 Ford taillight sockets...these amber park lights would light up the drive in movie lot!) Guys looked around to identify the "woom-woom-woom" lope of the over cammed Chrysler, and were unanimous in saying: "Awww, Mike...Get RID of the tractor wheels! Where are your Dumped Mercs???" Yep. Dumped rims hadn't died yet...Only other one in town was "The Barber's" 409 Chevy, ('62) Sam the Barber was a classmate of mine, he had the Americans for 2 weeks before I got mine. I went to L.A. in my bud's truck a little after, when I returned I found the back of Grandma's un-attached garage had been removed, along with my 2 rollaways and tools, my Chrysler engine from my beautiful '46, and the spokes of the mags broken with my sledge hammer, as they were locked with the new lug nuts, jerks couldn't take 'em off. The '46 got the Mercs back on, with some slightly used bargain tires, and the old '5/16" X 1/4" Merc flattie outa my '36... Yeah, I had some real 'mags'...
Mr. Denny, I paid $35.00 for that pair at Hershey in 1973, but I won’t take $70.00 for em;lol ! Mike, that story is a heart breaker...metal caps... is there another kind??
I'm going with a 392 and a late 518 transmission. 15 inch steel wheels with 1949 Chrysler wheel covers
In the mid-60s (IIRC) R&C had a DIY article on reversing stock steelies, and discussed options of chrome, paint, lug nut, and hubcap options - spiders anyone? Prolly written by Tex Leroi Smith. In restrospect, I think the article was more of a past-tech filler piece, than a "hot new trends" piece....
My 40 Ford with 392 Hemi I went cragers all around my 63 dodge torque thrust front and steelies rear.
BTW, in my circle everyone was dismissive of the slotted aluminum wheels, as perhaps minimally acceptable for clueless kids to put on late models jacked up with long shackles on the rear, but definitely NOT hot rod grade parts
The Jalopy Journal
