man...those are my favorite wheels, hands down, top of my list, always...I KNOW they made 8 lug ones that weren't 16.5", but darned if I can find anything but for a certain project
I built the chassis for Bill's 5 w. I tried to swallow the mag's but got too many threats of physical damage. Ha ! great car ......
I've never been a fan of the gray need a buff magnesium wheels, to me they look neglected not race ready. Why would you want that look?
The only reason to run em gray is to show you have em or you not into the upkeep. Either way they bring the look of the car down.
A pair of 15x10 magnesium's followed me home to WI from Santa Rosa CA when I was visiting my parents. Took me 30 years to get my hands on them. My buddy had them on a Camaro in the 80's I finally got him to sell me them. Going to take some work to get them to look presentable . I have a set of 15" 12 spokes for the front . Hoping to put them on a altered roadster .
I do believe they are the rims made by American for the Mini's. It looks like a 4 bolt pattern rim. The stock Willys was a 4 bolt hub. I see them on Ebay quite often. I'm always looking for magnesium rear American Lemans rims
To stay between the lines of the HAMB I will PM you an article I found while going down the rabbit hole that is the W.W.W. I don't know the backstory on the Silverstone wheel but I never put two/two together that the Mini car had anything to do with Minilite wheels I did see the four bolt pattern and figured they drilled them per the specific order for the car. I do know that they were using larger versions on some of the TransAm cars about the 1970 timeframe. Here are some American Racing ads I found. Also found this.
Originally they indeed were. Tech Del designed and made them as a magnesium competition wheel originally in 4.5x10 and 5x10 specifically only for the Mini in the early 60's, hence adopting the trade name of Minilite. Within just a couple of years though, Tech Del were making them in other sizes, especially in various width's in 13" diameter due to the demand as pretty much the ultimate light and strong competition wheel for rallying.
Hey, I was hoping one of our UK HAMB'rs from across the big water waded in on this, can't forget our Aussie and Kiwi friends too. As a matter of fact I just stumbled onto that article (one of) on the W.W.W.
Trying not to venture too far OT here, but the guy who started TechDel and invented the Minilite was an atomic physicist who had set up some engineering companies to make the machinery equipment he needed for his main company product making controls for use in the nuclear power industry. He had spare capacity and decided to try and solve the problem early Mini's were having in competition with wheel breakages. I owned a set of magnesium Minilites on my Sunbeam-Lotus 30 years ago, and they were fabulous with the massive reduction in unsprung weight they offered, plus the extra brake cooling inherent in the design (part of why the early Mini's were destroying wheels) and I would love to have a set of early 60's pukka magnesium ARE's or Halibrands to put on my '32 3w.... as to the OP here, my two favourites have already been posted, the Doyle Gammell coupe and the McMullen roadster
One thing I have learned about any thread on this site that asks for an opinion of best ever anything is that 50% of the people replying just post a picture of their own car. Either lots of hubris on this site or people just don't read.
yup, people do not read, either that or they just don't get it. In this particular thread Ryan asked for the greatest car ever built that had mag wheels, and even after he and I both posted again the original intent, people kept voting for "their favorite mag wheels" I don't get it.... another thing that happens a lot is someone will post about a problem they are having with their car, a few posts later they will reply that it has been figured out and fixed, yet people continue to offer suggestions on how to fix it. Seems like some read the first post and then jump to the end and reply... gets real old real quick....
That's your opinion big guy! There are people in this world that look at your car and classify it right there with everything Ed Roth built. So to some people, it is the coolest car ever built with mag wheels.
Thanks Lloyd, good to see the thread back on the rails, I'm as guilty as anyone for straying off track, what can I say, wheels have ruled my mental world from day one. You should have seen Guys' car and heard it LIVE!!! absolutely larger than life. As with Lloyd, this car was a star for some time over the years when venturing south to Pleasanton California, the mecca of West Coast ......rodding. It had it all but it was the Halibrand wheels that sucked me in every bit as much as the blown hemi, it may have been the car that helped deplete my bank account for years while simultaneously trying to keep three hot rod projects going.
Be prepared some will screaming Pro St--t! Why ? Because rear tires, In my opinion HR on steroids !! Always revolving, Its hard to DD / Strip , Hard on parts but I attempted with similar engine combo's was expensive but fun!! Can not post pic , Some here claim foul, Resemble the Orange 34 what it implies except both are 32 , ( 60ish looking ) That mag spread been on why wall since came in the mail,! there are several H-Rs / R-R that look like that,that were in my town on east in Va , late 60s- mid 90s , cannot post pics of because they all have big tires, There are few HAMB's here that have seen & can verify, Sorry , got confused of which thread I was posting to, Thought it was Bad A$$ HR build , some of post applies to this thread
Hey @ratrod harry , have you checked out the guidelines regarding what the HAMB is all about? https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/the-h-a-m-b-rules-guidelines.44274/
It still amazes me that we're getting shots of wheels only, when Ryan asked specifically for your #1 HOT ROD with mag wheels...NOT your favorite mag wheel! ...back to our regularly scheduled program....
If you read the title, it’s not hard to understand I also noticed in my short time here that there are many that prefer to color outside the lines.
Atts Ono pushing at the driver's door Hello, We all learned to read when we were little, some just better than others. Ha! My favorite "MAG" wheel set on a a cool 1940 Willys Coupe was a sign of the times. A finished race car usually had American 5 spoke "MAG" wheels or a set of Halibrand "MAG" wheels during the late 50s and early-mid 60s. It took a long time to get the immaculate red Willys Coupe finished. Here is a 1964 debut of our friend, Atts Ono's 40 Willys coupe. It started with American 5 spokes in the rear wide M&H slicks, but eventually those were replaced with Halibrand wheels. 1964 Jnaki By the time in the later part of the following year, the Willys Coupe was captured in 1965 by the Getty Images photographer, with polished 5 spoke MAG rear wheels. The last known phase prior to the coupe being sold to a Midwest racer was wider, but highly polished Halibrand MAG wheels. The photo was in the 69-70 era. The latest addition for more speed was a polished Hilborn Two Port Injector System. Photo by Don Hale
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