Might take a look at American Rebel. I know they're having some growing pains but produce a good wheel. I'm putting 15X4's and 15X10's on my new deuce sedan. Excellent quality and polishing.
After they were aquired by Holley, they released a new wheel design for Teslas and an Indy Roadster "style" wheel for Squarebody trucks. This speaks volumes as for whom they consider their "customer". It's as if they grabbed a catalog from the early '60s and said, "let's make wheels in every size, EXCEPT these". No skinny 16s, no skinny 18s. Hopefully this changes...
I have American Rebel wheels on my Cyclone, they look about as close to a “real” Halibrand as could be. Great quality and timely service when buying direct.
My CNC machine knows how to cut threads. I just need to tell it where, what diameter and pitch, and how deep. I know how to, as well, but I make the machine do it. I bring this up because the CNC machine that did the rest of the work on these wheels could have also just as easily made these these to match the originals. Not doing this was a choice, likely rooted in saving on production costs.
I recently bought a set for the old truck from Holley. I am happy with them and the service was great. I made my own covers for the center of the rear wheels and I modified the front wheels to use a bullet like center.
Large rear wheels are heavy and difficult to align and start the lug nuts. I made 2 of these to help align the wheel lug holes to the studs. I ground the hex off of two old shoulder style lug nuts and cut a slot in the top with a cutoff tool. You instal two of these on the studs, then slide the wheel on, and start 3 regular shoulder style lug nuts. Then you remove the two starter pins with a screwdriver, and replace them with lug nuts.
Yes, if I had one. There is no money to be made in manual work these days, and no space in my shop for a machine that will be used 3-4 times-a-year.
Have same set, obsolete now, most people are unaware that real Halibrands center caps are threaded on
As Gimpy says, not much call for a machine that is used 3-4 times a year. I moved to Pennsylvania 5 years ago, and it took me a while to find a small one man shop to do onesy-twosy's work for me. I found a great machinist about 20 minutes from me. He is in his early 50's, I am in my early 80's. Hopefully he will be around for a long time. The only welders that I have found are used to doing work on farm equipment. I still send welding work to my welder in Connecticut. He is good, quick, and in-expensive.
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