• 30.12.2023
• By: admin

Pity the poor auto detailer today. The manufacturers have more types of wheels than ever. But that isn’t the problem, it’s the wide range of different metals being used and the coatings, or lack thereof, on them. The detailer is faced with aluminum or magnesium, a combination of both, and whether they are coated or non-coated. Throw today’s aggressive brake pads into the mix and the once-shiny wheels are black in a week.

Back in simpler times, the 1960s, few manufacturers offered aluminum wheel options. The ones that come to mind are the Pontiac eight-lug wheel, which was quite exotic with basically aluminum construction and a steel insert. Chevrolet offered an aluminum wheel option as far back as 1963, exclusively on the Corvette. When the knock-off wheels were first offered, people were in awe of their beauty. Add to that the spinner, which had to be removed with a lead hammer, and GM had a winner. The GM terminology was “quick take-off wheel.”

The knock-offs continued through the 1966 model year. No records for sales in 1963 were kept, but from 1964 through the end in ’66, just 3,116 customers ordered the wheels on their Corvettes, according to Mike Antonick, publisher of the Corvette Black Book. An original set of 1967 bolt-on wheels, made by Kelsey-Hayes, are quite expensive today. Jim Jordan from County Corvette in West Chester, Pennsylvania, told us he knows of a recent sale of four original wheels with non-DOT 1967 tires for $25,000. “The authentic wheel is unpainted cast aluminum with a machined surface on the fins and on the circumference. The inside is also unfinished. The reproduction wheels have wider fins and typically a black painted finish between the spokes. The machined surfaces have more visible machine marks as well,” Jordan said. Restoring original wheels can be tricky. “Due to their enormous value, any mistake made during restoration can be costly,” he adds. “Typically, a good overall cleaning and polishing of the machined surfaces can bring back most wheels. If surface cleaning is inadequate, careful media blasting of the cast surfaces can restore the original finish. In some cases, where curb or accident damage has occurred, the straightening or even welding may be in order. This should be done by a professional with experience specific to the ’67 Corvette bolt-on wheel.”

The bolt-on wheel came to be when a new federal law prohibited the spinner section for safety reasons. In 1967, GM replaced the spinner with option N89, an aluminum bolt-on wheel. In theory, the wheel design almost bordered on genius, with a “starburst” cover to conceal five lug nuts. To remove a bolt-on wheel, the owner had to use a screwdriver, supplied in a new ’67 Corvette, to take off the center cap. The wheel then could be taken off in a conventional manner. In 1967, a new Corvette came with five aluminum wheels, one in the spare tire bucket, but without a “starburst” center.