idrjoe_sandiego Posted January 28, 2011 Share Posted January 28, 2011 Attached here is allegedly a picture of a 1930 Pontiac hubcap for wire wheels. Is this correct? Does anyone have a picture of the correct wire wheel hubcap for a 1929 Pontiac? Thx, Joe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest kaycee Posted January 29, 2011 Share Posted January 29, 2011 I do'nt know, but Tinindian no doubt does. He's the man to talk to on old Pontiacs and has a lot of experience and info. My '28 has wood wheels, so I can't help you. Sorry. kaycee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 29, 2011 Share Posted January 29, 2011 That could be a 29 or a 30 hub cap. It depends on the diameter of the inside flange. I am not sure which is which but there is about 3/16" difference. 31 was the year they changed and puth the indian head on the cap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idrjoe_sandiego Posted January 30, 2011 Author Share Posted January 30, 2011 Thanks for the info Tin Indian. This is supposed to be a reproduction of a 1930 Pontiac hubcap made in New Zealand. The Indian hubcap sure is a lot nicer than this plain vanilla design. I have a 29, so even though they look similar, that 3/16" is night and day. I would have never guessed that they were not identical. How in the world did you know that kind of detail??... you are right kaycee- he's amazing! Joe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 30, 2011 Share Posted January 30, 2011 I have several of each size (not first class ones but better than none). I used to know which were which but am not sure now. It seems that the Pontiac drop center wire wheels were scarce. Quite a few of the ones I have seen actually have Chev wheels and of course the would use the hub caps that fit their wheels. I have never seen a Series 6-28 Pontiac with wire wheels but there is a photo on the internet that shows one and it has the indian head emblem. The parts book shows a different cap for 28 and 29, one cap for early 30 and another one for late 30 and 31.An interesting thing in the shop manual. It shows the wheel mounted on the spare carrier and explains how to change the tire with the wheel mounted in this way. I guess when drop center rims were first available the shops didn't have tire machines like today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idrjoe_sandiego Posted February 1, 2011 Author Share Posted February 1, 2011 Reid- Maybe a dumb question, but what do you mean by "drop center wire wheels"? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idrjoe_sandiego Posted February 1, 2011 Author Share Posted February 1, 2011 Now I am really confused as the ebay hubcap is totally a different design on the center artwork.... compare to pic in first post above. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 1, 2011 Share Posted February 1, 2011 Modern wheels have a smaller diameter somewhere on the rim. This allows you to break the bead of the tire and drop it into the smaller part. Then you can use a tire iron to lever the tire off the rim because you cannot stretch the bead of the tire. The split rims (crosswise) on artillery wheels allowed you to make the entire rim smaller. Some artillery wheels had a side locking ring like the wire wheels or later (modern even) truck rims. Wire wheels without a drop center had one side of the rim that was removable and wad retained when the tire was inflated by a split locking ring.I didn't notice that the ebay cap logo was different in the center. Sorry, Maybe it eally was Chevrolet???? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idrjoe_sandiego Posted February 4, 2011 Author Share Posted February 4, 2011 Ok thanks Reid on the "drop center" explanation. I know exactly what you mean, but I have never heard that terminology. Makes sense though. So which hubcap looks like Pontiac and which one looks like Chevy? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 4, 2011 Share Posted February 4, 2011 The first picture you posted is Pontiac. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rareindian Posted February 5, 2011 Share Posted February 5, 2011 That second hubcap is an aftermarket one sold to replace original Pontiac caps. They were slightly different so as not to violate copyright with Pontiac. I have some aftermarket '31 wire caps that had a head in the center but the head did not have the flowing feathers. Also, I have a set of aftermarket aluminum wood wheel caps that look almost identical to the 30-31 Pontiac wood wheel caps with the exception they do not have PONTIAC or the indian head in the centers. They are not Chevrolets as Chevy wire and wood caps had the Chevy bowtie emblem in the center. Likewise, I've seen the aftermarket Chevrolet wire caps and wood wheel caps which had a rectangular emblem in the centers that resembled the bowtie but not close enough.I've ofter wondered who made and sold these back in the day-Western Auto? JC Whitney? Rick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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