Which of these two wheels do you think is more Ol' Skool? I know alot of people are running Supremes these days, But were they as popular in the 60's and 70's as Cragars were? I was thinking of running Supremes on on my Caddy but after seeing "Up in Smoke" and Cheech's 64' with Cragars on it, I started to think........Which is more Ol' Skool?.....Cragars or Supremes? With that said, Let me see who can show me the Baddest looking Ol'Skool 60's custom with either Cragars or Supremes!......pics!
well i think supremes are more ol skool personally esecially on a land yacht such as a caddy but if your car was a muscle look then id do cragars thats my opinion...
I don't know if you could say a Cragar is more "Old School" than a Supreme or vise a versa. I like both. I've heard that back in the day if you could'nt afford Supremes you would buy Cragars. Is this true? I was'nt around back then. Enlighten me. -Mike
Got a pic? Did they make a 15" 44 spoke? How many spokes are the new ones? or are those like the old tru spokes?
depends on what you are building. cragers ended up on everything from muscle cars to Hot Rods. not so much the astro supremes. the were mostly reserved for low riders and customs. whatever you do , don't mix wide whites with either. I'm thinkin one inch whitewalls with the supremes, blackwall or one inch whiteys with the cragers depending on the look you want. supremes rock. had a set on my 49 chevy bomb for a while... gonna put them on my 61 dodge someday..
I thought Cragars were a higher end wheel back then because they were mainly a racing wheel and then Low Riders started using them in 13" & 14" versions......I don't know, ask Big David.
going for that 60's Low rider /custom look and car will be laid out! I liked to run 14" but with gas prices and a better ride from 15" inchers, I will probaly run them instead. They still will be tucked in under the fenders with tiny whites.
In the '60's Supremes cost roughly twice as much as Cragers so Cragers were more "common" on the street because they were more affordable. We usta make jokes about Joe Bloski buying a '50 Chevy 2dr sedan from his grandmother for $75 and then tripling it's "value" by putting a $125 set of Cragers on it... and then having to park it till he could afford a clutch... Don't confuse common numbers with popular though. I remember seeing Cragers several months before I even heard of Supremes, but while "every" '50 Chevy street custom - daily driver high school car had Cragers, almost every top custom at the indoor car shows was sporting the Supremes, or Imperial, Skylark or Dayton chrome wires. Later in the '60's and into the '70's Cragers became common on "street racer" '57 Chevys and the wheel to have on Ghetto street customs in Compton. I worked at the welfare office on Compton Blvd. in '71 with a Black guy who bought a '61 Olds and fixed it up with Diamond Tuck upholstery and a set of Cragers. I tried to talk him into Supremes, but he said they just weren't the style in his neighborhood. Ya see what I'm sayin'? Different partswere popular with different groups at different times in various neighborhoods. Guy's in San Pedro wouldn't run "Bellflowers" because they were in San Pedro, not Bellflower. Middle '60's, Cragers were popular Lowrider wheels in East LA area. One of the Long Beach Tridents club members Dad was a Supremes dealer so you know what they all ran! The high dollar customs and lowriders were running Dayton wires. First set of Dayton straight lace wires i saw were on a Candy Red '63 Vette! I like both of them, on the right car. I think the Cragers used to be a stronger wheel, and would be better on a heavier car, but don't know now if that's true or not with today's wheels. If I had a Caddy, I'd put a set of Wires or a set of American Tru-spokes on it, or some of the alloy wheels that came on the last of the big rear wheel drive DeVilles in the 90's. They look cool. Don't forget that Cheech's car in a movie is just a set prop, and doesn't necessarily represent anything real.
well everybody has made the basicaly same point it depends on a couple of things what area your in and what look ..and dont forget if you have the money so so it basically comes down to one thing your own choice that is what really matters in this kinda situation ....
I always hated Cragar SS's because around here I only saw them on white trash Camaro's, but they've been growing on me lately with limited appeal. I've been checking out a lot more of the early low riders and noticed a lot of them were running these with pinner whites, which gives the wheel a different feel, and disassociates it with the mullet. Like you said though the Supremes look good, but everyone is running them, why not be a little different. Also I think the thinner spokes on the Supremes look too flimsey on a big car like a Caddy. I'd put in a vote for the Cragar wires as well though.
well if thats true its the other way around now supremes are alot cheaper than cragers! but on the cadi i would run supremes just because i know short dog is selling it after he builds it and most people like supremes!
there was a bitchin '58 chevy in Boulevard Nights that had Cragars and thin whites. it's tit for tat really which do you like better. as has been said already it had alot to do with what was Hot in a certain area. with that said i say dig up a set of Tru Spokes or Buick Skylark wires. i've got supremes on my buick but when it gets it's redo it will be getting skylarks...ken....
so the guys with the money ran the supremes on their carpet queens and the rest of the crowd rode cragers? its funny how much power rims has on your ride. what year caddy?
so true ..and look at the world now if you dont have big rims your a noone in the eyes of the general public ....well ya know what i think of that to hell with them im running stock 14inch red steelies on my 59 belair ..to hell with the norm lol
Go here and check out some rides. There are plenty of supreme pics, but also some cars with cragar and wires too. http://www.losboulevardos.com/gallery_friends.html For a Caddy, I say wires.
The guys "with money" ran chrome wires or polished five spoke Americans or polished Halibrands. Cragers, Astro Customs and Astro Supremes were wannabe look-alike/similar Halibrands and Americans, Supremes at half the price and Cragers at all four for about the price of one American five spoke. Astro Customs were a chrome steel dished and slotted wheel that was at least as popular as the Supreme and ironically, the cast "slot mags" popular in the '70's were what the Astro Custom looked like in a steel version but the cast ones got popular later. None of these were cheap wheels then. They cost as much then as "chrome smoothies" cost now in actual dollars. Like I said before, a set of Cragers cost twice as much as the going price of a 50 Chevy There were tons of other wheels out in the 60's like there are now. A lot of them were "discount department store wheels" too. I remember seeing Keystones for sale at one of the discount stores (The Akron?) displayed next to the $62 Velsy "popout" mass production surfboards.
I'm really surprised that there were so many lowriders and customs running Cragars. I'm sure it has to do with the fact that I live in Podunk, Wisconsin, but Cragars are still hot around here on musclecars, usually jacked up Camaros and Chevelles with sky high air shocks keeping them from rubbing the fenders in the back. So even if they were the choice of lowriders in the 60's, I can't connect them to anything but mulletized musclecars. On the other hand, Supremes are ultra-rare in our state. In fact, when I really think about it, I can only remember seeing ONE SET in the state of Wisconsin, and they were beat to death for sale at a swap meet. That's why, for my '64 Olds 98 (Cadillac sized Olds) I want to run Supremes. Sure, they're everywhere in California and a lot of HAMB guys have them, but I guarantee mine will be the only set within a 50 mile radius of my house. (as far as being "old school", they both came out around the same time, so it has more to do with your area and your style than anything else)
O.K. Guys to clear things up here. When i said to compare Cragars vs. Supremes, I meant a small deep reverse version of both on a Low Rider from the sixties........Not to compare Astros on a Low Rider to some piece of shit Camaro or any other muscle car With Cragars jacked to the sky! I don't even like those or any car if it's not fully skirted dragging bumper..........Thats the look i am going for!...........
Hey Short. What year is your Cadillac? Got any good pics? Maybe some photoshopped versions will help you decide.
Cragars were designed as a racing wheel and are very strong. The worst part about them is the tendency for the chrome to fail and flake off the centers. Dick Landy and Sox and Martin really made them popular when running them on Super Stock Mopars in the 60s and 70s. Supremes were not designed with racing in mind and weigh considerably more than the Cragars. They are the ne plus ultra of low riding and boulevard cruising culture. (not counting wire wheels) Contrary to popular belief, neither wheel is abundant is California these days. There are far too many wheel choices avaiable now but I see more Cragars than Supremes around here in the Bay Area. If you spend time driving from town to town you will see a little of everything. I recommend the Supremes for your purposes sir.
My Bad! Camaros are nice rides but i had to stress to make a point.........That wasn't the look i was after (muscle car as oppose to a Low Rider)
Forgiven. Lots of lowriders here, I damn sure don't want to start a war! (I save that for import tuners.)
This is the order I would go with if I had a Caddy... 1st - Chrome reverse 2nd - Cool hubcaps 3rd - Wires 4th - Supremes 5th - Cragars 6th - Cinder Blocks 7th - Milk Crates 8th - 2x4's
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