New wheels and tires for the old girl

[MrFreeze]

Thanks to the Turbinator, I have finally been able to correct my '64s biggest (IMO) aesthetic flaw: I never liked the wheels that came with it.  When I bought it, it had American Racing mags and 205/75R15 tires.

 

Bob was able to restore a set of 895 road wheels for me.  Newly chromed, powder coat on the black areas.  Just beautiful.  Not 100% correct for a '64, some might say, but I don't care even 1% about that.  To me these wheels belong on the car.

 

Tires are Firestone Destination LE3, size 225/75R15.  Just barely bigger than what I had, but the size looks right in the wheel wells.  The PO's butchery helped me here: car already had spacers on the rear wheels, and butchered fins on the front drums.  Otherwise I don't think these would fit without some massaging.

 

Bob also restored some original center caps for me, which sounds like a real undertaking.  Thanks again for all your efforts, Bob.  If anyone is looking for classy, original wheels or wheel covers for their Riv, I suggest reaching out to Turbinator to see what he has to offer.

 

There doesn't seem to be a "preview" function for new posts, so I'm not sure how this is going to look - sorry if the pics and text don't match.

 

MrFreeze

 

[NC1968Riviera]

Someone in the lowrider community would probably be interested in the AR wheels. 

[RivNut]

Perfect candidate for some red line tires. 😁 Red lines would look great with your body color.

[EmTee]

New wheels and tires look good.  If these are 895 wheels I presume you've installed spacers between the wheel and brake drum.  The blackwalls definitely make the car look like "it means business".  @JohnD1956 would approve! 

 

[telriv]

The "Formula Five' wheels, that were originally available & what they were called, were ONLY available for  the '64 Wildcats at the time.

 

Tom T.

[EmTee]

For me, it's hard to beat a set of turbines on a first-gen Riviera. 

 

[dr914]

what a difference!  NOW all you need is a set of whitewalls. The first generation cars are personal luxury cars NOT muscle cars so look best and most elegant with whitewalls

[telriv]

Can't say that I can agree.

I've been racing my '64 Since new.

Was NEVER as slow as mentioned in adds.

With 3.90 gears & old slicks it has done a best of 13.902 @ 98 MPH.

On average mostly a 14.1-14.2 

Not bad for a boat in my opinion. 

 

Tom T.

[Turbinator]

On 5/10/2024 at 11:33 AM, telriv said:

The "Formula Five' wheels, that were originally available & what they were called, were ONLY available for  the '64 Wildcats at the time.

 

Tom T.

Tom, now that Im clear on 64 Buick wheels for the Wildcat. Some name tor the same appearance for the 65 Riviera was?

[Turbinator]

The tires and wheels on a car say a lot. Sometimes I don't know what they are saying, but it is a lot.

When I see black I think of mystery and sophistication. The black walls are popular on all the new cars just like the black out features.

The black walls say to me a car could be a “ sleeper.” In another way to say Im quiet you figure it out. Chrome style wheels always go with black walls. White walls with too much chrome can be too loud. In my not so humble opinion a person could have beautiful white walls and beautiful chrome wheels, but yet those two together is too much for my liking. Black walls go good with anything.

Later Gator

Turbinator

[RivNut]

I had the front windows in my BMW X3 tinted to match the factory rear windows.  The guy at the tint shop also did wraps and custom wheels. He said that he thought my car would look good with black wheels. My response was “Then it would look like a Toyota RAV4 that lost its wheel covers.”  😁

Edited May 11 by RivNut (see edit history)

[XframeFX]

Actually, I was hung-up on Like-for-Like replacement of my 32 year old 225/75-15s with 3/4"WSWs. Correct or not, I liked them enough to want anther exact set. I struggled with Like-for-Like and ended up with 1.4" WSWs which are growing on me but brown leaching already! Sheltered in a garage with maybe 80 miles on them.

So, key here for me is letting the look "grow on me". I agree with Emtee, the BSWs purvey a "mean business" look. The 70s Electra also looks good with BSWs and THAT is certainly a luxury car -  - - - perfectly fine with BSW tires.

BSWs give another look equally nice.

[Pat Curran]

I am a “period correct” kind of guy.  My 64’s, 65’s and 69 all had white walls and I wouldn’t have changed a thing.  I never would have driven them without them!

My 97 had black walls and that too was period correct.  I never would have put white walls on that car.

Styles change with the times but I will maintain the style in the time in which my car was built.😁

[Turbinator]

22 hours ago, Pat Curran said:

Styles change with the times but I will maintain the style in the time in which my car was built

Pat, that is all fair and smart for car shows and resale. Let me add a little to the appearance of our cars. Two 60’s GM cars are enough for me. Id like to have more, but Im out of space with a 2 garages now.

I entertain myself with different looks with different sets of wheel and tire set up. After all as men our age we have good sturdy dependable footware? Our cars should have same. I have turbines, wire wheel covers, and what I think are quite sharp TruSpoke Buick wire spoke wheels with center cap assembly I made myself. For my vintage cars I like 15/16”(1”) white walls. For my drivers all black walls. All told 24 tires mounted on the wheels I like for my 63 Riv, and other 60’s GM car. Many tires, but less expensive than other vintage car.

 

Edited May 13 by Turbinator (see edit history)

[Chasander]

Bob, I really like the your spokes. 

[Silverarrow]

IMHO, They'd look pretty good on your Mustang...

[Turbinator]

6 hours ago, Chasander said:

Bob, I really like the your spokes. 

Chuck, you are nice man.

Thank you

Turbinator

[Turbinator]

On 5/11/2024 at 2:02 PM, dr914 said:

what a difference

For most part Im in agreement with your comments. Black walls are the modern thing. Mixing things up a little adds mystery. As a kid Id see Mopars with black side walls and a few Biscaynes with black walls. The front ends on those cars appeared to be lower than normal. I never really knew but sometimes those cars with black walls had major league powerful engines. We called them “ Sleepers”.

Thank you for your comments.

Later Gator

Turbinator

[MrFreeze]

6 hours ago, Silverarrow said:

IMHO, They'd look pretty good on your Mustang...

They are damn near the same as the Magnum 500 wheels on my coupe, which I  find amusing...so I guess I have to agree!

 

MrFreeze

 

 

[MrFreeze]

43 minutes ago, Turbinator said:

For most part Im in agreement with your comments. Black walls are the modern thing. Mixing things up a little adds mystery. As a kid Id see Mopars with black side walls and a few Biscaynes with black walls. The front ends on those cars appeared to be lower than normal. I never really knew but sometimes those cars with black walls had major league powerful engines. We called them “ Sleepers”.

Thank you for your comments.

Later Gator

Turbinator

I guess I am going for the "sleeper" look, then.  I don't feel whitewalls look right with chrome wheels.  The Firestone tires I got for these wheels are actually white letter tires, but I have the white letters turned to the inside.  

 

I think the early Rivs are inherently "sleeper" cars anyway - there is a lot more to them than meets the eye at a quick glance.

 

MrFreeze

[RivNut]

In my opinion, a sleeper would be the cheapest model sedan with stock wheel cover and black wall tires. Original paint with normal dents and dings, bench seat, column shift.  This LeSabre runs 9.85 @ 135 mph.

 

 

 

[EmTee]

16 hours ago, MrFreeze said:

I don't feel whitewalls look right with chrome wheels. 

Ha - I remember as a teenager my group of car buddies subscribed to that 'rule'.  Of course, back then raised white-letter tires were the rage...

 

 

These days, my tastes have 'matured' and I have no problem with whitewalls on factory chrome wheels. 

 

[Craig Balzer]

20 hours ago, RivNut said:

This LeSabre runs 9.85 @ 135 mph.

Tease!

What is under the hood??

[RivNut]

1 hour ago, Craig Balzer said:

Tease!

What is under the hood??

LT1

[RivNut]

 

[EmTee]

That thing leaves HARD and sounds great! 

[RivNut]

Maybe I should have kept my 94 Roadmaster wagon and added a nitrous bottle to it.  It had the LT1 in it.  I’d have to consider it a sleeper.  The 94 - 96 Roadmaster wagons had the LT1 from the Corvette but the RM had iron heads rather than aluminum ones. 

[EmTee]

22 minutes ago, RivNut said:

The 94 - 96 Roadmaster wagons had the LT1 from the Corvette but the RM had iron heads rather than aluminum ones. 

Saw this one while in FL...

 

 

[RivNut]

The road salt that’s used here in the Midwest is really rough on sheet metal,if you don’t stay after it.  I’d still have my wagon if it wasn’t for the rust. (No NOS though)

[Turbinator]

On 5/13/2024 at 1:41 PM, MrFreeze said:

there is a lot more to them than meets the eye at a quick glance.

Mr Freeze, I applaud those who have gorgeous show piece restorations. The cars with engine detail right shade(s) of  black the correct decals, correct fan belts, all the hardware is the right color and size. I believe detail efforts as such deserve a round of applause. 
What is important for others is the effort and expense to make the car reliable and  good running (as the budget can stand). Our very fine Rivieras all look good. What we cant see is rebuilt suspension, rebuilt engine, all p/s, starter, update black plug wires, one wire electronic ignition, and the list can go on with things we do to make the cars better, but we can’t see.

On the extreme end of the spectrum gents turn their car in to folk art. We  look and say chrome and engrave the under carriage? Paint and applied  graphics to rival museum pieces of modern art ? The Art piece is never driven on the highway.

The automobile, as we know it, gives us boundless ways we can spend our time and have a whole lot of fun.

Later Gator

Turbinator

Edited Thursday at 01:13 PM by Turbinator (see edit history)

[60FlatTop]

My '94 Impala SS with the Lt1 and a lot of 9C1 stuff always felt like "Cop" and did it well.

 

Even with the 17" old style Cragar SS wheels and Nito Invo tires. One of very few "old" cars I put blackwalls on.