History Borrani Wire Wheels

Rudges 'll do. My dad has always wanted a gull-wing, one of the few cars on his "list" he didnt end up with at some point.

 

Funny thing is, I was thinking Corvette knock-offs would look cool on a riv.

 

Pure cl***

 

My dad had a black 120 briefly when I was in my early teens. Hell of a nice car. Then he sold and bought a morgan.

 

Boss, if you drop a set of those wheels on a Rivi, you will truly be "The Man" a**** men.

 

Haha Tony, and which pennyless English musician did you ask to run down to Liverpool to check them out for you? Still remember how nervous I was stood in a warehouse with a tape measure, straight edge and spirit level trying to make sure they were straight and true before I handed over your cheque to the guy.....they were gorgeous wheels. And so far beyond anything I was dealing with at the time that I was truly terrified.

 

I concur!

 

X2 In the early '70's a friend of mine built a widened set of Borrani's for his 289 Cobra. (He also cut the body and added fender flares ala 427 Cobra)) He cut up 2 sets and welded the rims to widen them and had the whole shebang re-chromed. Then he discovered he couldn't mount tires on 'em 'cuz the drop in the center of the rim wasn't deep enough. He re-did them completely again and ran them for several years.

 

Well, my ****py middle-aged memory has failed me again. The car was in fact a Mk1 race car (looks just like the Wyer street cars) that never raced, ch***is #1027 was the former MGM camera car for the movie Grand-Prix. VERY cool car, but not a John Wyer street car. Some might say that the ultimate GT-40 should have a proper racing engine, rather than a thundering cast iron FE. Belonged to a fellow from Newport Beach named Jim Toensing. This thing must have been awe inspiring. Wonder if its still around with the DOHC in it. Bet someone on here probably knows...

 

I remember seeing a maroon supercharged '64 Avanti with white interior, DEEP rim Borrais and wide road racing tires blow past me on a Southern California country road back about 1966. And the sound, WHOOOOOOOMMM!!!

Totally *****in' even for a mere observer.

 

Hey, Felix!
They were indeed gorgeous wheels, and it was painful when I decided to part with them without ever having used them. Luckily I found a guy with a 250 PF coupe who wanted them badly, and I broke even on the deal.

Thank you again for your effort in inspecting them before they were shipped!

 

Hey in this youtube channel you can see the Caddy with Borrani wires and some clips how wheels are made.

It's fun to look at it

http://www.youtube.com/BorraniAeMGarage

 

I couldn't get to the link above (it's been blocked), but this one works:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blO5zbX5dFY

Watching this about the installation of Borranis on Steve Wertheimer's Cadillac clarifies how Ryan is feeling confident about making the wheels work on his Riv. I wish these guys had been around when I was trying to install them on my Ford!

 

Thanks for this illustration, Weasel. I really prefer the looks of the center laced construction.

 

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I think cast wheels were originally specified, but development problems meant the prototype GT 40s got wire wheels by default.
page 11 here
http://www.gt40s.com/images/howto/LynnMiner/Reference/SAE_Papers.pdf

When in the winter of 1964 Shelby was enlisted to whip the cars into shape increased durability was required for several of the systems. (Wider) Cast wheels replace the wire wheels immediately.
page 15 of the same link.

 

I'm guessing Jaguar OEM wire wheels would have been from Dunlop, not Borrani.

 

Or Rudge Witworth depending on the year, but yes, Borranis are unlikely.

 

Borranis were available aftermarket for the hippest of XK owners, as shown on the silver car above. You probably knew that already.

 

hippest or wealthiest?

 

I guess wealthiest would be more accurate. They were certainly cool, but the guys who actually raced Jags were generally on factory wheels, as I recall.

 

Yep Jags had Dunlop wire, some racing cars had Borranis like the 1950 XK120 for the MilleMiglia, Aston Martin had Borrani on DB2 DB3S optional on DB4 and 5, original equipment on race cars as GP or the DBR series, i wish I have one...

 

They are a bear to keep clean and shiny. But at some point I think they'll make it back on my Buick.

Yep, there are some great Daytons.

Later ones were from Dayton.

I have some of the Jaguar wires by Dayton, had them on my Buick for a while. But they need some love to go back on.

 

Anyway... before someone gets hugly... i'm posting a domestic one!!!

and a "Mistery car" let's see if anyone reconize this other one...

 

^ Ghia 450SS -- a Barracuda in wolf's clothing. Pretty car.

 

Wow....good shoot

 

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I will contribute a couple of examples of early and later Borranis (lip & center lace) to the pile....

1950:






1964:






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I just installed a set of Skylarks on my Riviera and like how they look. I'm very interested to see how a Riviera looks with Borranis.










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