In reply to 03Panther :
Thanks! I don't necessarily mean it's ridiculous in a bad way it's just a large and angular automobile. It really stands out street parked.
In reply to 03Panther :
Thanks! I don't necessarily mean it's ridiculous in a bad way it's just a large and angular automobile. It really stands out street parked.
In reply to 914Driver :
I could be interested- is it pretty thin material? There's not a lot of extra space the way they attach but I might be able to finagle something.
On a previous car I bought a sweet (ugly) red gator skin purse and cut it up for my arm rest covers. Thinking something like that would be cool. Probably not red though
Had a bit of fun on Saturday morning- decided to take the car for a little drive because the forecast was looking a bit cold and rainy for the rest of the weekend. So I headed to a curvy section of road down in Bloomington that's a pleasant drive and close to home. I figured I'd hoss it around some corners, you know really feel the machine under me.
Anyhow, corners got hossed. Now, I'm no performance driving expert, but this thing handles ok for a big gravy boat on wheels. It has a lot of body roll but once you get over the initial feeling you might scrape a door handle on the pavement, it does ok on some smooth sweeping corners. The first pass through felt graceful enough that I decided to swing back around and give it a little video documentation. Mind you, virtually no speed limits were broken just maintaining some speed through some tighter corners. Anyhow, what ended up happening could be expected if you've been reading closely, but if you haven't I'll let the video paint the picture (need audio).
WTF was that?
From my prior experience with a very similar noise, I'd bet a motor mount let go and the fan is hitting something.
Time for some less-destructible motor mounts!
In reply to Mr_Asa :
Ooh, good guess! Fortunately for me the noise was far less destructive.
So when you mix 65 year old hubcaps, curvy roads, and some "spirited" driving, what do you get?
Hubcapis ejecticus!
That's right, just like a 1970s car chase I blasted a wheel cover off taking a turn. The sound you hear in the video is the cap banging on the inside of the wheel opening. Luckily for me the dice valve cap kept the wheel cover itself from rolling off into the lake, so I just pulled over, yanked it off, and finished the drive in a more gingerly fashion.
Since I had already been having issues with the Olds caps sliding around despite bending the tabs out so much they required brute force to install, I decided to stop at my dads and poke around. The olds caps will be relegated to wall hangers for now. I knew my dad had these and decided to snap them on for a while. I think they look really cool but I also think they miss the mark set forth by the bellflower tips.
What the car really needs is a set of Astro supremes, and I've been waffling back and forth the last week or so about pulling the trigger. It's about $1100 for wheels, tires, and lug nuts. Not an astronomical amount of money, but also not an amount I'm comfortable spending without some contemplation
I just pulled the trigger on wheels and tires. Lot of money to spend, but I think they're going to look terrific. 15x7 Astro Supremes and a new set of thin whitewalls. This will round out the mild custom theme much better than the dog dish caps do.
This is kind of a bucket list set of wheels for me so I'm pretty excited.
Gunchsta said:What the car really needs is a set of Astro supremes, and I've been waffling back and forth the last week or so about pulling the trigger.
7:27AM
Gunchsta said:I just pulled the trigger on wheels and tires.
11:57AM
Nice
Hey, he said he just needed some contemplation. Sounds like he achieved that.
I mean, it was also a day apart... but yeah. I've been contemplating it a while - outside of my posts on this thread
Gunchsta said:I mean, it was also a day apart...
Doh!
That was fast
Tire Rack and Speedway both showed up like 2 days after ordering. Got an appointment with a friend who has a tire machine on Saturday morning to get everything together
OK, I'll bite....what are Astro Supremes?
They look like classic Cragar five-spokes.
That is correct. They're a chrome steel 5 spoke wheel. Very similar to a Cragar SS or a multitude of others throughout history.
The Astro Supremes were to customs/lowriders what the Cragars were to muscle cars. THE wheel to have for a certain period of time. They go hand in hand with the bellflower tips. I'm excited to get them mounted!
Astro Supremes are definitely cool, but do they only come in unilug? I never trust the oval washers.
In reply to mblommel :
Yep, as far as I know they're only unilug. They take a mag shank lug nut and the 4-1/2" bolt pattern is all the way at the inside so you have pretty even contact most of the way around the lug nut.
Perfect vibe with those. I didn't know they were steel wheels.
In reply to wawazat :
Thanks!
They're definitely steel, and heavy as all get out.
I'll try to take some detail pictures when I get home, they're an oddly constructed wheel. And interestingly enough the barrel is stamped "made in USA" which I really did not expect.
In reply to Gunchsta :
I seem to remember my Cragar SS wheels (back in 1977) being a steel rim and a cast center. Could these be done the same way? In any case, they should look great on the Merc.
Looks to be a steel center welded to a steel outer. The lug mounting surface is kinda funky and has like an inner/outer structure. Either way they look plenty sufficient for a cruiser. And the chrome finish is really bright and deep
made in USA
The center is doubled....never seen that before except on some old stock car wheels.
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