years ago, when we were building dad's roadster, he found this set locally. Actually bought five and made 4 good ones using his brake lathe and dial indicator. Cost to restore was waaaay expensive, so decided to paint. Painted or chromed, still very cl***y!
The GT40 concept was drawn on Mag wheels. Because it was based on the Lola GT ( which were also used as mules for the program )
But the Borranis were used on Racers too. (these cars look like they have a later body style than the very early ones that ran at LeMans ) Whats cool about that last pic is that there is also a Cobra in it which is on Halibrands. ( so that was clearly the mind set of guys like Shelby, and that was where things were headed ) That might also have been a reason for the switch to mags. As well as the fact that the wheels were getting wider...
Perfectly in tune with the luxury touring concept that the Riv was inspired by. Paint it black, or a mettallic biege. A subtle color would be best with that theme. Sounds like a good fit to me. And they look damn good on my dads silver blue Maser Sebring. Go for it.
Well later series had the 8" front and 9" rear so the width is not the problem... I say again that it was the cost of them, just like today on Halibrand you get a full set for the cost of 1 Borrani... everybody race on a budget!!!
What springs to mind when I see Daytons is just about polar opposite to what my mind links with Borranis.
Wires are great looking wheels. I ran them on a Thunderbird for many years until I finally got tired of the maintenance and upkeep. I came to the conclusion that the only way I would ever run them again was if I won the lottery and could afford someone else to clean them and keep them pressurized. The ones I have leaked unless you run tubes and they were sealed from the factory around the ****** well. They leaked slowly but I tired of refilling them every time I wanted to take the car out. They still look good to me whether they are Ford, Kelsey Hayes, Dayton. Borrani, or even True-Spokes but they take a lot of work to keep them that way. I settled for simple steelys and caps. No muss and no fuss.
I was unaware of this, and I don't think I've ever seen one. The body looks a lot better than the MKIII does.
The MkIII had to have minimum height headlights and round sealed beams to be legal in North America hence the unique front clip and those highly effective chrome bumperettes too!
Thank you... There are chromed wires... Mostly for flash, and there are Borranis that look like aluminum claws... spinning, they are buzz saws... Then you d**** some swoopy fenders over top of them... Perfect.
IIRC, there was one of the Wyer street cars with a DOHC indy motor swapped in that was was written up in one of those Petersen Publishing Ford annuals that they used to publish in the early seventies. I have it at home, I will check and confirm.
I think they'd look really good if you pick a nice, wide rim. Big cars look weird with narrow width wheels. That said, I'm using a set of KH wires made for 53-56 chryslers on my 34 coupe...rears have been widened to 8 inches and the wheels have been modified to accept 32-35 ford caps.
Not sure what these are on the the Le Man's sister, might be Borranis, more likely they're Daytons. They're edge laced, I bet they are Borranis, I wonder where she is today? S****ped more than likely.
IMO there's a big difference between the looks of the lip-laced (early race cars) and the center-laced wheels -- not sure about the correct terminology. The lip-laced, as on the Cadillac above, don't have the same appeal at all.
Not sure why, but for some reason looking at that Cad. the thought of 'propellors on a rocket ship' comes to mind. Maybe I need to cut back on the bath salts.
We've been watching this thread with much interest. Putting Borranis on a Riviera has long been a goal of mine. I am just not sure when if ever I'll get around to it. My thinking is much along the lines that have been posted here. I love the combination of european influences that are found on the first generation Rivieras and find it interesting that they helped make one of the best looking American cars from the 1960s. Back in 2001 Steve Stanford did some renderings for us on how our Rivi project might look. I made some enlarged color copies that took up two pieces of paper. I came across the front half today. Over the weekend I going to pull out the original artwork. We'll post it here and maybe do a TRJ email blast that shows all of Stanford's Rivi renderings, as well. Anyway, Ryan, good luck with fitting the Borranis to the Rivi. Can't wait to see the results. Steve
Am I seeing lugnuts on the top picture? Borrani did make some bolt on conversion kits but I believe they had steel rims....
Somewhere around this joint I have a picture of my mom doing her lady like best in a short skirt to slide out of the drivers seat and over those deep sills on her Gullwing Merc... No Borrani's though! My dad bought it for her as a wedding present because he thought no way in hell would she actually drive it. His first miscalculation! After he noticed the guys at their upscale sports car club meeting gathering waiting for her to exit the car, it got replaced with a brand new Jag XKE.
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