Here is the final installment of our hubcap quiz to test your curbside identification skills. As I introduced in Pt. 1, my uncle has a hubcap collection which he inherited from his dad, who collected most of them as castoffs when driving around as a mailman in Iowa from the 50’s through the 70’s. If you missed either Pt. 1 or Pt. 2, you can go back and catch up on all the glorious Peak Hubcap Era wheel covers you missed.
These wheel covers represent what was commonly on the road in that part of the county at that time, so most are not exactly exotic and shouldn’t pose too much challenge for the CC readership to identify. As we’ve seen, the collection is heavy on the late 60’s and 70’s, with some exceptions. Almost every American maker is represented in Pt.1, Pt. 2 or here except for one very popular brand. Which one? (post-run edit: The answer is Oldsmobile! Also Lincoln and Imperial, though it’s much more remarkable to me that there are no Olds’).
If you want to play, write the brand, model or models, and year or years for each picture I have a number template at the bottom of the article if you want to use which you can cut and paste into the comments.
Sorry this one’s a little blurry, but I know that won’t stop or even slow you down!
The rest are not full wheel discs, but dog dishes or center caps.
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I won’t try for all, but have some thoughts:
3. 1977 Cadillac – I think that was the only year they used the black background for the center.
7. I cannot nail down the exact year for the Comet/Montego piece, but I can tell you that the car was brown.
16. When did Ford decide to make the bottom of the Ford crest wider than the top, so that it looked like the cross-section of an old Chris-Craft? I think it was 1968.
I have not commented on your prior two installments, so let’s correct that. Here goes…
1. I remember seeing these on early ’70s Darts
2. Early to mid 1970s Chevrolet C-10. Ugly then, ugly now.
3. Base model Cadillac; will go with early to mid-80s C-body.
4. Mid-sized Chevrolet (colonnade Malibu or Monte Carlo) from the 1970s
5. Late 1970s C-10. My grandfather’s ’79 C-10 had these exact covers; not much better than those in #2.
6. Late 1960s Ford mid-size.
7. Early 1970s Ford Torino. Remember seeing these on the ’72 and up examples.
8. 1970s Thunderbird (’77 to ’79) and Ford Elite.
9. My aunt had an ’81 Mustang with these, but it seems like these were also found on other Fox-body Fords.
10. 1970 or 1971 Ford Thunderbird. Similar to others on full-sized Fords of the time, but you can see the bird in the middle here.
11. Chevrolet. Going out on a limb, will say 1960s era Nova or Malibu.
12. You have no #12.
13. Early 1950s Dodge
14. Early 1950s Buick
15. Unknown. Given the number of Fords so far, we’ll stick with Ford of unknown vintage, but definitely 1970s to early 1980s.
16. This one had a long life. Found on my father’s 1970 F-100, also found on base model Fords of all sizes in the late 1960s and Ford trucks of the same era.
17. Early 1960s Chevrolet truck.
18. 1978 to 1981 Chevrolet Monte Carlo.
19. 1970s Jeep Wagoneer or pickup.
20. Saab. Nothing beyond that.
21. Looks like a Ford V8 emblem, but is offset. Uncertain.
^^^ What Jason Said ^^^
The only guesses I could come up with here agree with his.
1) Dodge Dart
4) Chevy from the seventies, although I thought ‘74 Impala
10) T-Bird for sure, but I would’ve picked from earlier in the same generation, say a 1968 (pre-Bunkie-Beak)
13) early 50s Dodge sound right, but I was getting a L’il Red Express vibe from it.
14) ‘52 Buick Special was my first impression… Like Aaron’s car…
17) Early 60s Chevy Pick-Up is the only thing that could be… maybe even late 50s.
For #20, I’ll guess a mid 1970s Saab 99. I think Saab changed their logo (from very tall, upright letters, to the version seen here) in 1974.
Nice job, thanks for the input!
I would only differ on #15 (the blurry one). I believe it’s a mid 70s Chevrolet wire wheel, optional on Caprices and maybe Malibus.
# 17 is from a Chevy LUV pickup
Pretty neat .
I used to collect hubcaps but they take up too much space so when I moved a few times they went to the swap meet where a dollar or two each was all it took to send them on their way .
The thought of my lifetime collected parts from the 20s ~ 60s going to the landfill when I die pains me but that’s life .
-Nate
I recognize the second Chevy one as my dad had those on his boat trailer when i was a kid
I think most of the caps have been id’d, but #15 is a Chevrolet cap from 1965-66. Not sure if it was an RPO or a parts counter item, they were available in 13″ and 14″, depending on which vehicle you had. Good ones today are $$. I’m keeping an eye out for 13 inchers for my ’65 Corsa, I saw an NOS set on the net the other day. 400 dollars-each!
I have a pair of the #16 Ford hubcaps in my garage; they came with (but not on) a ’67 parts Travelall I dissected in my driveway this spring. Nice to know where they originated from!