(first posted 3/9/2016) Following up on our road wheel discussion, let’s consider the wheel cover. Practically extinct today, wheel covers were just as distinct as the cars they adorned throughout the CC era. A step up from the lowly hubcap, they provided a combination of style and branding that reinforced the signals car manufacturers wanted to send about the cars themselves.
Once again, it was Cadillac that got the ball rolling, introducing steel wheels and full wheel covers on their 1938 models. And once again, it took some time for the rest of the industry to catch up, but by the 1950s full wheel covers graced all but the lowest of low-priced cars.
Some were so good, they were arguably better than the cars themselves. One of my favorites, on the 1961 Imperial displays a cool elegance sadly missing in Virgil Exner’s freestanding headlights and compound shark fins.
Others, not so much. Was there ever a meaner wheelcover than the ones introduced on the 1962 Plymouth? It’s as if the designers, having been forced to hack together the disastrous downsized B-body, just gave up. There’s a reason virtually every 62 Fury you see today is wearing dog dishes instead of these.
OK, so my interests, both hot and cold, seem stuck in early 60s Mopars. I’m sure you’ll have many, many more candidates to add, both good and bad.
Worst: all full wheel covers
Best (non-alloy/styled wheel): center caps + trim rings on painted steel.
The 1938 Cadillacs might have been the first major American brand to have full wheel covers, but the ’36-’37 Cords beat them by two years if minor makes are allowed in the count.
https://classiccarcatalogue.com/CADILLAC_1938.html
Cord:
The 71-8 Datsun Z series simulation of a mag wheel was pretty bad. Worse though, was how it ended up on so many domestic cars with 14” wheels as an alternative to what they came with originally. This travesty was hugely popular in Los Angeles in the 1970’s.
A very corny looking wheel cover, in my opinion.