From a guy that plays a tele?!?! Lol. I don't like the wheels either tho, but I do agree it all depends on the car. I have no definite love or hate for anything automotive. It all depends on the car..... Always.
And for those taking a poll, I’m 39. I’ve seen different pictures and had different conclusions, and not seen them in person…but the U.S. wheels “super spoke” Cragar knock off looks to have more of a curved spoke.
View attachment 5720483 View attachment 5720483 Top pic is Cragar, bottom is US Wheel, both bought about a year ago. Center caps DO NOT interchange.
Just FYI - That's NOT a Telecaster. It's a '62 Esquire. Teles are like assholes. Esquires only have 1 pickup. - 1pickup
They were always a favorite of mine. the only thing that people would tell me was after a while the chrome would peel.
I can't unsee those tailights! They actuallly make the Cragars look good 53 and never really cared for Cragars except on certain cars, like the Peek Bros roadster. My favorite LSR car of all time
One of the first sets I ever saw was on a buddy's '60 Starliner. Dead-stock body, they looked great on that car. I currently have a set on my '60 Ford Sunliner 'vert, which incidentally were pulled off a '39 Ford coupe and replaced with TorqueThrusts by 40FordPU (a good decision IMO). Again, they look very good on the 'vert but will be replaced with a more custom-oriented choice as soon as I get motivated. By the early '60s, the chrome excesses of the '50s were behind us so these wheels were an easy way to add some 'flash' to your newer car. And again, Cragar went to great lengths to promote these wheels, making sure they appeared on magazine-worthy cars as well as popular racer's cars and most 'show rods'. But by the late '70s they somewhat fell out of favor due to the exploding number of wheel choices becoming available and the racers finally abandoning them for lighter replacements.
I personally don’t like them but what irks me is if they or any other wheel are not cared for. Because they are on a steel style outer there is a bead groove that turns to s**t if not kept clean. Back when they were really popular and the they were on sat outside it wasn’t too long before there was a ring of pits and rust like all the chrome wheels that endured the same care.
I was a Cragar snob in my younger years, when I saw a set of those "kinda look like Cragars" made by Appliance I would just cringe, they had that flange on the edge of the spokes that reminded me of the model car wheels that needed trimming when you popped them off the plastic tree.
The advantage of the Appliance wheels was they were plated steel centers, not the fragile aluminum centers used on the Cragars that were easy to break and have issues with the plating peeling off the aluminum... which Appliance noted in their advertising. But that flange was a bit off-putting. Some detailing with black paint helped, but getting the paint to stick was an issue. Powdercoat would be the cure these days.
I like them, had them on my 62 Chevy II my 55 Chevy and my 72 Chevy pickup. Thinking I need some for my 37 Pontiac.
I like em too, glad your going to run them on the 37, they are heavy and I may still have a chance Cragar must have paid Grumpy a pile of money to run em, a lot of fast altered wheelbase cars ran them too? Jay had them on the 56 before I bought it from Ann and they're going to stay on
Just throwing in my 2 cents here. (44 YO btw and a life long So. Cal resident). Cragars look good on anything that you are trying to achieve a look of about 1966ish to about 1982ish. For example if I was building a boogie van it would be Cragars, US Mags or Turbines and all would have white letter tires. Cragars Pretty much go on any street race style car that looks like it came out of a 1970s popular hot rodding magazine. Cragar deep dish rear wheels (15x12 or so) and spindle mounted spoke motorcycle looking wheels look killer on a diamond tuft interior C Cab or T bucket. I know from reading hundreds of now vintage magazines Cragars were real popular on fat fendered cars especially with visors and little thin white walls that's a typical late '70s look, myself I think they look kind of goofy but I don't hate on them. In my opinion it is all about sticking with a time period or look and not really mixing different styles, The only exception is you can go slightly bigger diameter on the wheels as they look appropriate on most vehicles. For example a lot of 1960s Chrysler products came with 14" wheels and They look really good on 17" Cragars as they still keep the time period look but they modernize it slightly Plus because they are a slightly bigger wheel you can usually get a more modern brake setup in the car which for my experience with 1960s Chrysler products almost every one of them their brakes are lackluster at best. Myself I don't think I would ever run white walls on Cragars nor would I put Cragars on a "square" era car or newer, They look really appropriate for vehicles designed in the muscle car era, It doesn't matter if it's a van or a '70 Chevy Nova or split bumper Camaro or a Mustang II kingsnake. They got to have the look. On a off note does anybody have any Cragar GT wheels and have some pictures of them mounted on cars I had a pair of these wheels years ago I was going to put them on a 1972 Fury But it could never find the front wheels (This was before the internet got big), anyways I just want to see what they look like on some vehicles They seem to be pretty rare.
Lol, I know it's an esquire, aka, one pickup tele. Used to have one, loved it. I was just a joshin ya.... It's a beauty. Those don't come cheap either....
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