Correct wheels for an early '62

[Clare Carpenter]

I'm trying to determine which 15x5" wheels are correct for my early '62. My spare (it's painted roman red and I assume it's original) is spot welded and has no cut outs on the backside. It has the double ridge mentioned in the NCRS Tech and Judging manual, along with the nubs for both the small dogdish caps and the full wheelcovers.

I also have three wheels with the same features except they have the dogbone cutouts on the backside. I need two more of the same or four without the cutouts on the backside to complete a set of five. I found a guy that has both styles. I can buy whichever is correct for my car and sell the others. Which ones are correct for me?

One additional point: The NCRS manual says the wheels are dip painted black and then color is applied to the fronts of the wheels only with various amounts of overspray visable on the backsides. On my spare it's the opposite, the entire wheel is painted with color and black is sprayed on the front only. My guess is the car originally came with blackwalls and color coded wheels. One of the previous owners probably decided to change the look and blacked out the wheels.

[Jon S.]

Re: Correct wheels for an early '62

Clare,
Your spare is the correct wheel. No "dog bone' should appear on the backside. I would also guess your hunch about the paint on your spare is correct. Good luck! The correct wheel in my part of the country is expensive.
Best regards, jon

[John M.]

Re: Correct wheels for an early '62

Clare,
There has been much discussion about the dogbone cutout versus the no cutout wheel.
I belive that all 60 and later cars had the no cutout wheels on them and the original spare on my car was most assuredly that style of wheel as was yours.
That being said, I am not sure that there is strong consensus on this issue and I believe either wheel would judge correct on your car. My 60 had the original no cutout spare in the trunk and dogbone cutouts on all other wheels and It never took a single point deduct on the way to Duntov! If you could find someone who would trade you some no cutout wheels for the dogbone ones you have, then I would do so, but I wouldn't do it if the cost was going to be very much. I just don't think you are ever going to get a deduct for them. In my 58-60 JG the issue of the cutouts is not addressed. You are way more likely to get a deduct for incorrect valve stems than the wheels.
I would guess that the spare had been repainted somewhere along the way as all wheels were black to start with before having the face painted.

Regards, John McGraw

[Clare Carpenter]

Re: Correct wheels for an early '62

John, I got this message from a fellow NCRS member:

"The wheel you need has the double dip on front, "GM" stamped on spider,
large center hole, large valve stem hole, and spot welded on rear
without the slots. The first dated one we have located is 10/58. The dog
bone type was last dated March 1959 so they changed over sometime
between those dates."

If this is the case then the dogbone cutouts would not be technically correct for a 1962. This would match your belief that all 60 and later cars had no cutouts. I suppose from a judging standpoint they might slip through, as they did in your case. It's odd that the 61-62 NCRS Tech and Judging Manual doesn't address either the dates or the cutouts. I haven't been able to locate any dates on the wheels I have, on either the spare, without the cutouts, or on the other three that do. Does anyone know where the dates are located? I checked the inside of the rim carefully and scanned the outside front and back. How big is the stamping/characters?

[John M.]

Re: Correct wheels for an early '62

Clare,
If I remember correctly, those wheels you bought from me were not date coded or stamped with the Kelsey Hayes logo. The stamping would be in the inside of the wheel and would be easy to see. The original spare on my 60 was not stamped either, but 3 of the others that I used were. There were many wheels that were not so stamped, and I would guess that they just came from a different source and maybe were not made by Kelsey. I do not know wether GM had more than one supplier during those years, but if they did it would make sense that wheels from the other supplier were not stamped with the KH logo. I know of people who have considered filling the cutouts with body filler to remove all traces of them, but as long as these wheels are not bringing a point deduct, I would not go to the effort. I think that this is one of those points of arguments on C1 cars that will never probably be settled like which years used the flat springs on the brake drums and which years used the round springs. I think that the reason the JG does not address the cutouts is that there is enough doubt on this issue that this particular aspect of the wheels is not judged.

Regards, John McGraw

[Roy B.]

Re: Correct wheels welded

I'm the one that wrote on the Corvette wheels being welded after 55 in 1988 SACE volume 1, I explain to menbers that not only one supplier, supplied parts for G.M . (that is the reason many parts have different logo's or design change)and be the same parts used in the Corvette. Wheels are no different .K.H's has thier logo and other not. Wheels can have small differences and still be sold by G.M. or installed. Both are correct for each year Corvette.

[Clare Carpenter]

Re: Correct wheels for an early '62

Thanks Roy and John, (Jon too). That settles it for me. John you sold me two very nice wheels and with the other one I had, I now have three cherry wheels with the cutouts and one without. Being the stickler that I am, I'd like to have five that match but since you got all the way to Duntov with your car (having the plain weld as the spare), I can probably live with that too. Now on to the other goofy stuff we do to have a car 'flight judged'. Thanks again guys.

[John M.]

Re: Correct wheels for an early '62

Clare,
I think that is a good decision. There will be plenty of things left to agonize over before you are ready for judging, and you will have to make many Value-based decisions before the process is all over. Restoring one of these old cars falls under the old 80-20 rule. You get 80 percent corrrect for 20 percent of the effort and then that last 20 percent will take up 80 percent of the effort.
Getting the last little bit of points from 97 percent to 100 percent can get quite expensive.

Regards, John McGraw