61 wheel covers orig. vs repo.

[Peter Cipriani]

I have a chance to buy a set of original wheel covers. What distinguishing features should originals have vs repo.??

[Donald L.]

Re: 61 wheel covers orig. vs repo.

Pete,
Original were smacked chromed when they were made. They have a bluue ice tint finish.Rpros are polished stainless and the nickel in them gives the finish a
yellow tint.

Regards,
Donald #31176

[Mike M.]

Re: 61 wheel covers orig. vs repo.

Pete: will the repo stainless c-1 (56 to 62) wheelcovers hold a magnet? mike

[John M.]

Re: 61 wheel covers orig. vs repo.

Peter,
I do not know about the current generation of Repro covers, but the older ones were stamped out and had sharp edges wherever there were openings. The originals have a nice rolled edge at all openings. The material is folded back over and rolled to present a nice finished edge. Most of the repro caps that I have seen are way to sharp in the detail around the edge of the cover where they go into the wheel. Thew originals have a nice rounded radius at these bends. As was pointed out in an eariler post, the originals were chrome plated as was all the stainless trim on C1 cars and the repro's are not, which gives the repro caps a subtle yellow cast. There are however many originals which have been stripped and polished to return the original shine to them, and they are seldom run back through a flash chrome process. If these covers are left unpolished for a period of time they will develop the same yellow hue. All original caps have a circular burnished pattern in the recess under the spinner and should not be polished in that area.

Regards, John McGraw

[George W.]

Re: 61 wheel covers orig. vs repo.

Mike , please tell me more about the "magnet" test . My '57 covers seem to hold a magnet "stronger" on the chromed side ? Actually , one of the covers seemed to "repel" the magnet on the insides of the outer areas , but attract on the reverse side of the "brushed" circle area ? Later , when I tried it again , it attracted everywhere ?? These do have the bluish coloring , but I thought they were repos because the spinners are . Thanks for any input , George