torque thrust id

just picked these up for my model a project and want to know what kinda wheels i got. pretty sure theyre not magnesium but dont know for sure. theyre one piece cast torque thrusts with no name cast on them or stamping ANYWHERE on the entire wheel. 15x9 with 4 3/4 bolt pattern.i couldnt pass em up for the price, sure would be nice if theyre american racing mags! let me know i can post more pictures

 

pics are a little to small to make out

 

My Ansen's were stamped under the tire, like the area in your third picture.

 

I'll try posting better pictures tomorrow, still not finding any stamping...

 

Take a picture of just one since they are both the same then you can zoom in, for more detail.

Pat

 

well i went to wash the wheels today and found some info on the back side of the valve stem. it says "atlas a-415 patenet no. 2818101". looked up atlas torque thrust style wheels on the internet and it says theyre off yenko gm cars. theyre 15x8.5. other than the stuff i found on the back of the valve stem there isnt any other casting or stamped names on them. any other info about atlas wheels would be great

 

Yenko are proly worth more than Americans to the right person.

 

Torque Thrust Originals! (TTOs)

 

Please don't confuse anyone. TTOs are the new wheels from American Racing that don't look anything like the originals!

 

327-365hp, you got any info on atlas torque thrusts?

 

I remember hearing about Atlas in the 60's or 70's. I think it was Washington State or Oregon is where American Wheels and maybe a couple of other comapnies had some of its wheels cast and the company was called Atlas I believe. If I remember correctly Atlas cast some wheels using the molds from other wheel manufacters. I have an early set of 5 spokes that look exactly like the early 60's American Torque Thrust D with
no name cast in it. I also have a pair of early 60's American Torque Thrust D with the name cast into.

 

I know I like them!
PM Terry R Vaughan here on the hamb AKA torqthrust Terry

 

I have a pair of 8 1/2 x 15 straight spoke Americans, which look a lot like what you have. The info is spelled out in high relief on the backside though.

 

atlas foundry was in penn. they cast the 5 spokes and yes yenko used them as did others

 

Thanks for all the help fellas

 

I have never seen a Yenko/Atlas wheel with the words "Atlas" cast into them anywhere. I also have never seen them in a 15x9 size. The whole reason "Atlas wheels" ever came to be stemmed from the idea Don Yenko had to get his hands on full sets of matched torq thrust mags to use on his dealer-prepared supercars for less money than he could buy them direct from American.

Don simply took a new set of American mags to the Atlas foundry down the road from the dealership (a place that simply made aluminum castings, they were not specifically a wheel company) and asked if they could duplicate the American wheels he showed them. They did just that, although somewhat crudely, and usually with plenty of casting flaws.

Basically an Atlas Wheel is an exact copy of a Torq Thrust from the same era,(67-69) with the "American Racing Equipment" and "Torq-Thrust" lettering removed from the castings. Common sizes were 15x6 or 15x7 and 14x6 or 14x7. The 1971 Yenko catalog also lists a 15x8, but I can't say I've ever personally seen any in this size.

As noted above, usually the castings were pretty bad, and nothing near the quality of an "actual" American Racing wheel. The caps can be either chrome plated plastic or metal, and originals featured a unique checkered flag logo with "Aa" on them (which stood for Atlas Alloy) It was simply a foil decal with red ink. Yenko often stuck his own logos on top of the Aa logos. Any Atlas wheels are scarce, and there is at least one vintage wheel dealer that I have known to remove the logos from Americans (and even some off brand torq thrust style wheels) and sell them as fake "Atlas" wheels. As with anything vintage and valuable, its buyer beware.

While I'm not saying your mags couldn't be made by Atlas, none of the wheels have any lettering on them at all... and they should definitely be aluminum, not magnesium.

I'd like to see a close up of what you say is the word Atlas on these wheels... on the back side of the valve stem? Do you mean on the inner portion of the wheel? Please post a pic.

 

Those wheels are not an American Racing Torque Thrust copy.

It looks more like a copy of an Ansen or Dragmaster.

The way to tell is the bevel that goes from the outer rim in to the five spoke section.

An American has a much larger bevel.

Sam

 

Thanks Joe. I didn't think I had ever heard of an Atlas wheel any wider than 7" so it's good to hear confirmation from one of the more knowledgeable Yenko/Atlas sources.

Merry Christmas Buddy!

 

Thanks again for the valuable info. There's no castings or stamping on the wheel its self, just on the backside (inner) part of the rubber valve stems. I know the valve stems couldve been made by a company called atlas but I thought it was pretty ironic that a company called atlas also casted aluminum torque thrust replicas. That's the only clue I've found so far on these wheels anywhere and was just going with it. All the knowledge out there has been a big help and I'll post more pictures this weekend after I'm done with all the Christmas celebrations. Thanks AGAIN!!!!!

 

Atlas Tire and Rubber Co. was totally unrelated to the Atlas Foundry in Canonsburg PA. The Atlas name you see on those valve stems are fairly common and does not have anything to do with the wheel manufacturer. Atlas Rubber made tires, inner tubes, and valve stems. I did a little "google research" and found that Atlas tires were sold by the Standard Oil Co., which became Amoco, which is now BP. I highly suspect the Atlas brand may have been made by different major tire companies at different times. Just as I used to watch them put the same oil in bottles with different labels such as Standard Oil, Motocraft etc. In any case, Atlas Rubber and Atlas Foundry are unrelated.