The Wheels

One of the other items that needed updating during the rebuild were the wheels. There seemed to be a mix on my car, the two spares on the running boards had aluminum honeycomb wheels which I have seen pictured in ads, and the ground tires were Dayton chrome wire baskets which I have seen in ads as well. One of the baskets was missing and the remainders were very rusted and had been painted someplace along the way. The center caps which held them on were random as well. I tried looking for replacement baskets with no luck, and then turned my focus to complete wire wheels, but I didn't like the look.


My next option was wire wheel covers. Finding 14" wire wheel covers which weren't plastic or dented and rusted was a bit of a challenge. I kept an eye on eBay and then one day I found a NOS set of GM (Camaro) wire wheel covers, all steel and chrome. These had the locking accessories with removable center caps and "keyed" lock bolts. That was what I was looking for and they would be secure. These wire covers were actually the least expensive of the options I looked at and seemed to fit the period look I wanted. When I received the wire covers they looked great, as advertised, New Old Stock and never on a wheel. The only tweak that was needed was the center logo. These had "CAMARO" in plastic which wouldn't work on a Mini Mark. I dreamt a little and did some research then had an idea. Why not make my own Mini Mark center logo's?  I found Plate Engraving Co in Medina, OH who was able to take my own designed script and engrave it into aluminum coins. Problem solved. Plate put black epoxy in the script and sealed the coins so that they would withstand the elements.




I'm not sure I like the wide white walls which came with the car, but there are other things to finish first before that decision needs to be made.

UPDATE: As you can now see from the picture on the left, we made the decision on the tires. Tire Barn in Michigan City, IN and Don T. did an awesome job of getting the BFG Radial TA tires that really change the look of the car from the old style wide white walls. There was a final bit of hard work to get ready though. Since the wheels were chrome plated, and a bit rusty, they had to be prepped for paint. Each wheel was sand blasted, sprayed with etch primer and then finish painted in black. Paint completed, tires were mounted and balanced, then mounted on the car. The wire wheel lock brackets were mounted the covers installed and locked and ready for the road.

The next project will be the spare tire, then on to the interior, carpet and upholstery.