Im running a set of these cragar center caps on chrome reversed wheels on my 68 montego ragtop,they are from the 60s/70s.I really would like a NICE set of narrow starwires for the front of the PIEWAGON,Ive got a pair of 15x14 starwires for the rear for show,Im running S/S on it except during shows
I don't exactly have a hot rod but my '56 rides on Crager SS's and I wouldn't have it any other way .. First thing I got after I aquired the car ...
New school, old school or any school my '55 Chevy 210 build needs Cragar SS wheels, and so does my '57 Nomad. Or any tri five chevy for that matter.
I like the S/S wheels, but never was a fan of the SST. Probably just because I remember growing up in the early 1980s where it seemed everyone with a ratted out Camaro or Dart had SST wheels with too much offset and air shocks pumped to 200 psi. Usually you'd find "Power Cat" raised white outline letter G-60-14s mounted on these. I keep waiting for the late 1970s / early 1980s high school hot rod look to become the new "in" thing. Red wheels for the new generation. For some reason, I think it's gonna happen. Ratmotors Chevelle typifies the look I am talking about. Admit it... we all thought it was cool way back when.
Actually, the Cragar S/S wheel was a mistake!......The whell was designed and put into PRODUCTION before it was shown to Roy Richter for approval!.....But Roy liked it when he saw the finished product and the number of orders that had already come in!.......I was an employee of Bell Auto Parts from 1966-1969..............
I'm not picking on your Chevelle. That's the way we all did it back then! Having your car in that era though, you gotta remember all the rust bucket 307 Malibus running around trying to copy the "look".
I realize you were just acknowledging that late 70,s look...I just had to add a few particulars. I too owned a few 307 Chevelles with the added 4 barrel carb and intake etc. I was just a kid but my cars looked cool!
Funny, I always thought they were a copy of the Centerline. I liked the spun finish of the Centerline better, personally. Didn't see a whole lot of SS/Ts growing up, and Centerline way outnumbered the Super Tricks at the strip, at least from my memories of the late 70s and 80s when I was growing up.
Dammit, what are Cragar Sparklers? I keep reading references to this wheel, but I have no knowledge of it. What is it? Searched and found only cryptic mentions.
As I remember it, the Cragar Supertrick cameout first. They were a "light weight/race only/not street legal" wheel and when the street legal Centerlines came along, they quickly took over as the wheel to have. The Cragar SST were a street legal copy, but weighed a ton and were kind of a "poser" wheel. Anyone remember Cragar Mach 8's? I never saw many sets of them, but really liked them on my OT car back in the mid 70's. Larry T
Do you know what process Cragar used in thier "Satin" SS wheels? Was the Satin center a plateing or a treatment to the existing aluminum centers? What year was the Cragar SBC 6:71 blower intake first introduced? Did Cragar ever use Magnesium?
Here's part of a tire wheel guide from the 60s with a couple Cragars. And the Sparkler!! Pipes. Grumpy. Not so Grumpy! I may have some more Cragar ads stashed......I'll post em up if I do. I spent a few weeks going through all of my old Hot Rod mags scanning all of the ads that I liked. I think I've got over 300 on file.
More. That looks like all of the old Cragar ads but I've also got a bunch of ones from American Racing, ET wheels, Kelsey, Rocket, Superior, Fenton and I don't know who else! I can start a new thread with nothing but wheel ads or I can post em here if you guys want to see em.
Good Lord!!! THANK YOU! I am down to my last two Cragar SS 15x4 Skinnies. Sold the rest. My centers of course are loosing thier Chrome. I have wanted to Satin/Sparkler thier centers but never knew how it was done. Shot Peening thanks to your post was the treatment Cragar used. I noticed though the Satin/Sparkler was only offered in 15x6 and 14x6 wheels! Note: What devices are used to transfer magazine prints to your computer?
Glad I could be of some use around here! I simply scanned the ads and cropped them if they needed it.
A flatbed scanner. I have a Visioneer OneTouch 7300 USB, I bought it about a year ago for less than a hundered bucks at Office Max.
When Cragar was Introducing their wire wheels(not Welds)forget the year.Bob Airheart(of Airheart Disc Brakes)was working for Cragar and a good friend of mine,sent me one of the first sets of these wires..At the time,I was driving a black vette..he had the wheels that he sent me "gold chromed".sure looked good on that Black vette.I've neverr seen another "Gold" set of Cragars
I bought my "gold" SST's at the Street Machine Nationals in 80 I think. Well the rear ones anyhow, as its all the budget would stand. Played hell trying to find matching ones for the front later on. They look pretty sad now...
If you want to learn about Cragar, there is an amazing book on Roy Richter called Roy Richter - Striving for Excellence by Art Bagnall. It's as big as a textbook and twice as cool. It's a great read and the man lived a good life.
I have a pair of cragar GT wheels they are similar to torque thrusts and have a center cap that has 3 fins and the letters GT on the cap. how rare are these? OldWolf
I totally agree, and I was around in the early '60's. I hated them then, as well as in the '70's and '80's, and probably always will.
Old Wolf: The GT wheel by Cragar was offered only in limited sizes unlike the SS. As a result has limited collector value.
I just remembered something.... Approx three years ago I recall a Ebay listing for a pair of Cragar SS in 5 spoke 13 inch 5 lug FORD bolt pattern in I believe 4 inch wide! When did Cragar offfer the 13 inch 5 spoke 5 lug SS wheel? Think You!!!
The GT mags in the ad above w/ the triple pinstripe whitewalls are *****in! Not 100% sold on triple-stripe tires, but they get points for the 'unusual' factor.
i'm a bit younger than some and hadnt even heard of the sparklers when we did that to a set of beat s/s's in high school just to get rid of the flaking crome
I'll take one of these please for a 392 Chrysler hemi, thank you! Seriously though, if anyone has one of these and wants to let it go to a good home, let me know - please!
Hey! Thanks for the memories! Particularily the catalogs. For my two cents, may I offer that Harry Whitt, owner of Bell Auto Parts at the time, according to Mark Dees, bought out Gartz and Fengler in about 1933. I guess the only ***ets of CRAGAR, were the rights and patterns of the two cylinder heads, an OHV and an DOHC. These had been designed by Leo Goossen, in the employ of Harry A. Miller. Miller never produced any of them; but, they went to Schofield Mfg. of L.A., when Miller sold all his ***ets in 1929. Schofield produced them, as Miller Hi-Speed Heads, for about a year; then went broke. Whitt tried to reconfigure the OHV to a crossflow head, with negative results.
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