There’s little doubt that “steelies” are becoming more popular again (and have been for some time). I hope that’s not a bias from being a steelie guy myself, but cars like this ’68 Fury convertible tend to reinforce the point. So the question is, are these aftermarket wheels, or from some other car that fit?
Here’s a closer look. I’m guessing aftermarket. But I’m pretty clueless about that sort of thing. Meanwhile, let’s enjoy the rest of this big rag top.
Prolific Cohort poster William Rubano gets credit for this one.
I find about all I like any more are steelies. it’s easy why, just about every car now has factory custom rims so steelies make you stand out. those wheels look like late 60s midsize Mopar to me.
I helped a friend’s son buy his first car about a month ago. He wanted a V6 Camaro. It was the end of the model year, and the dealers still had a few ’13 models, but most of the available cars were ’14s.
The base model MY ’13 Camaro came with black steel rims. To me, they looked kind of cheap. To this young man (about 27 years old) they were the most attractive wheels available. He was disappointed that the 2014 Camaro he ended up buying only came with alloys.
I just thought he had strange tastes. I didn’t realize that steelies were A Thing now.
I’m guessing the wheels are from a 2008+ Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor. They were probably black and someone re-painted them silver.
Those aren’t Crown Vic wheels, those are from a Dodge Charger police car.
Here’s a pic from that evil auction site:
That makes sense. I hadn’t considered that Chrysler still uses that distinctive bolt pattern after all these decades, but why not?
It’s not that distinctive, it’s a 4.5″ bolt circle, which is also what a lot of Fords use. In metric terms it’s 114mm, but it’s the same. Fords typically use a smaller center register though, so if you try to use OEM Ford wheels on a Mopar they may not fit for that reason.
Those are definitely larger than 14 or 15″ diameter wheels, which is the largest this car would have been fitted with new. They don’t appear to be using a spacer to correct the offset, since you can see so much of the hub poking through the center register.
That is probably not such a bad thing, spacers are not legal here and in other parts the law (& insurance companies) frown on hub adaptors too.
What is more worrying is when you see 120mm bolt circle wheels on 4.75″ hubs.
But wheels with the wrong offset will cause problems too. They look lost in the fenderwells, may rub on components during tight turns or full suspension travel, will negatively affect handling, and put unintended loading on the bearings which would cause premature failure.
True, I did not mean to say otherwise. Buy wheels that fit is the simple message – they are available but of course not as easily from junk yards now that they are all negative offset and don’t suit the classics. We were lucky that until 1998 the Falcon still ran near-zero offset rims that can go on the older cars.
I don’t recognize those hole punches. But, I think it’s just a painted steel rim…
On the subject of Fury’s… I grew up in the back of a ’67 Fury III suburban wagon. Light blue in and out with the 3rd row rear-facing back seat. No wood sides. But, it had a 383 and the hood emblem that told the world it was a hot rod wagon. I remember waiting out at Elliington Field in Houston for my dad’s plane to get in. The dash clock made a loud “clunk” each time it rewound.
I think that’s the car that resonated with me when I found my ’68 Dodge Polara convertible in a salvage yard in ’83. Same 383 motor. Same familar clock “clunk”.
All white steel rims ? The Peugeot 106 Rallye had them.
(Photo: Garage de l’Est)
I adore those cars. Magnifique!
The last “true” GTi ? As in: small, light, very basic~zero luxury, firm ride, with a screaming naturally aspirated small engine.
Not the fatso fully loaded top model with a GTi badge just for the sake of it.
I’ve not seen one of them for a long time.Our boy racers and chavs weren’t smart enough to see this car as a lean mean racy hot hatch and it was seen as a miser’s special stripper.
Those rims aren’t as nice as the one used for that vintage Plymouth ad with Petula Clark.
Petula Clark was a Plymouth spokesperson in 1967 and ’68.
I know exactly from whence those wheels came. Four kitchen sinks, four drains that had the little baskets to catch food bits. Pull on the center thingy to plug the drain(s).
Please, give the ol’ gal some Magnum 500s and whitewalls.
Amen. Those look like s…terrible.
Those wheels would look so much better with some spacers, those wheels have too much backspacing to look right on a car without 4 wheel disc brakes. That Plymouth’s got a bow-legged look going on…
I could easily tell these weren’t stock, one, the rims look to big to be the original ones, I’m guessing the original rims were 14″ units, and these look roughly to be 18″ units, with low profile tires on them, and don’t really look right.
If I go back to steelies, it’d be the styled steel wheels that one used to find on subcompacts, with a center cap to cover the hub itself.
Less chance of your wheels being stolen if you have steelies
Not if you use wheel locks.
I found a bag in the cargo area of my Mazda with a set that had never been used, let alone opened last year, and my car is now a decade old, essentially.
These days, I doubt people just steal the alloys like they did because most cars come with them now.
I agree that those are some seriously ugly wheels. A set of 15×7-inch cop car wheels would dress up the car a lot better.
Speaking of steel wheels, I’ve always liked the 1949-1951 Mercury 15-inch wheels. There is no symmetry to them – they have five lugs, four slots between the inner and outer sections, and three bumps to hold the hubcap on – but they have a broad-shouldered utilitarian look that appeals to me. I tried google images to find a photo but the only car that didn’t have hubcaps or wheel covers was of low enough resolution that all I could see was black.
The 15×7 Mopar cop steelies are some of the best looking steelies since the great Chevy Rally wheels.
Completely agree. This car cries out for a set of them painted to match the body.
Those wheels are definitely making a statement. Too bad that statement is “I used to own a trailer, but all that’s left is these rims”.
+1
They don’t really work here, but I am a big fan of styled steelies myself. They are cost effective, durable, and can look good too,
Due to a sudden onset of mystery arthritis I’ve been looking at small crossovers (easy to get in and out of) and prefer the styled steelies on the CRV and Forester vs their uplevel alloys. The Escape on the other hand has hideous wheel covers over plain black steelies on the base model. With the “One Ford” scale of vehicle production one would think a styled steel wheel would be easy. They don’t hide the fact that I’m being a cheapskate, they just look better. The overly insecure and vain will buy the upper trims anyway.
Those wheels just do not look right on this car. It’s the holes.
Maybe someone can tell me when steel wheels all started sporting those holes, rather than the older style where there were four slots around the rim, like the one below. The GM fwd X or A bodies are the ones that come to my mind. The old style steelies always had a down-to-business look about them, but the ones with the holes never looked right to me.
As for the car, I can’t say that the baby blue really does it any favors. I could do with a Fury convertible, though.
That would make sense, it would have been in response to better engineering analysis leading to less material use.
In Australia holes like this came in the early 90s when base model cars switched to 15in tires, the ‘standard’ design was used until then I expect rather than spend money changing press dies (excluding various separate ‘styled’ steel wheels).
In Europe, the holes appeared along time ago, because of improved brake cooling and lighter weight. It just took Detroit a few decades longer to appreciate those benefits 🙂
Yeah the ever expanding use of disc brakes, along with the switch to FWD did the four-slot zero-offset steelies in.
I like the old look better though. They’re tough looking, which is necessary when your brakes fade and you need to scare away the prissy European car drivers in your path 😛
If I remember correctly, early Lexus SC coupes and some Toyotas used that style rim for their full-size spare tires. Maybe that’s what those are.
Incidentally, I have a full set of factory Mopar 15X8 cop rally rims sitting in storage.
I like alloys, and styled steelies when they used to exist on cars, such as the ralley wheels that once were options on cars like a Dodge Charger back in the 60’s and 70’s.
I don’t like wheel covers as so many of them now, especially in the past 20 years look very, very cheap, because they are made of plastic, painted argent (usually) and they get broken, cracked, scuffed and the painted surfaces flake off over time, and just make the whole car look like its owner is a cheap bastard, both when new, and especially after a year or two of hitting curbs.
Back when wheel covers had style and all that – and were made out of stamped metal with a chrome finish, then it was worthwhile having them on a car, but if you want a sporty looking car, whether it actually was or not, then fancy wheels often worked in that capacity.
Hell, you used to buy true magnesium wheels for your Fiat 850 Sport Coupe back in the day, and those were wicked expensive, and light, and were difficult to snuff out if they caught fire so you had to let them just burn out on their own, but they WERE mags though!
At least with alloys on cars today, they tend to look good for much longer, and really DO dress up a car, even an every day appliance such as a Toyota Camry.
+1
The worst part about the plastic silvery wheel covers is that they clearly reveal the black steel wheel between the spokes. That makes the whole car look cheap and disposible. The bare steel wheel would look better..
My Sierra 2.0 GL came with factory fitted nasty plastic covers faked to look like alloys.When the time came for replacement tyres I found a rusted out Sierra with alloys and decent tyres and these found their way on to mine,with lock nuts.
I agree with you which is why I removed the plastic covers from my vehicle. They failed to make the steel rims look like aluminum rims and did not even protect the lug nuts like a hubcap would.
does anyone know where to get 60s or 70s looking wheel covers that would fit on a 16 or 17 inch steel rim? have tried several times to find some thru google but the only ones that seem to be made are either aftermarket crown vic or charger style…would really like to find a set to put on a later model Crown Vic….
These look better on this Fury than they did on that Lincoln Town car a few months back, the nice silver one that had a trailer hitched. Those had that weird offset and were too narrow.
Getting the back space right on non-stock rims is so important and I think many people don’t know that.
Whenever I see ugly wheels on a car, I always wonder what, exactly, it was that they replaced (and why). There are few ugly OEM wheels, but lots of ugly aftermarket wheels, or wheels from something else that don’t look right. Was one of the original wheels bent in a fight with a curb? Stolen?
I prefer steel wheels to alloys, they’re less likely to be damaged by a really bad pothole and if so, the rim can usually be bent back or replaced for much less than an alloy wheel. Hubcaps are cheaper when the wheel gets scraped. I’ve been thinking of getting the wheels on my car powdercoated with the same shade of white paint (ironically named Fresh Powder) that my car has and maybe painting my brake calipers.
Don’t paint them red,be a rebel!
Back in the day, a chrome trim ring and chrome lug nuts w/ a small center cap would dress up a steelie…the way Honda/Datsun/Toyota used to do it!! 🙂
Always liked the look of the Mopar steel Rallye wheels with trim rings and center caps.