(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.
When I die I want to go to Hubcap Heaven!
Truly works of art. Today, ALL cars and trucks have spoked wheels. There is only so much you can do with spokes to make one wheel different in appearance from another. Like all cars being silver, another same ole same ole sameness – so boring.
Worst: The painted wheel covers on my 72 Maverick LDO. They only looked good when new. These covers were fragile and protruded too far; they quickly got scratched and pushed in by car wash rails and curbs. Every example I saw at the time around SoCal was damaged. The car was new in this photo and only days later I drove it cross country to move to LA, where the first trip through an automatic car wash damaged the covers. Not one of Ford’s better ideas.
The coolest ones that immediately come to mind are these that Chrysler used to mimic the Magnum 500s
And one of the all-time ugliest has to be the Oldsmobile flat-caps from the 80s. Way to ruin an otherwise great-looking car
+1000! Not only were they boring as sin, they were as rigid as foil. Any normal force to remove them would bend them so that they would then fly off at the slightest provocation.
Those were horrible. I think Olds knew their cars would sell regardless and didn’t care that those base hubcaps were cheap and ugly. Plus it forced you to pay for an upgrade! My best friend’s Dad bought a two year old Delta 88 Royale Brougham that was loaded to the max but had those hubcaps. He quickly got a set of the wires and it totally changed that car!
The number plate says it all.
Australian 69-70 Fairmont
Maybe not be a popular ‘worst’, but these which came on 4/5 80’s Caprices have always bothered me-
That is about as generic as you can get.
Those were bad!!
Not much to look at, but certainly better than the plastic cap that briefly replaced them. The plastic base hubcap on the ’91 Caprice (an optional upgrade on the 9C1) flew off with such regularity that GM gave free replacement sets of the old style metal caps to the PDs that ordered the plastic ones. The ’80s style cap also became the “dress-up” option for new 9C1s and would remain so (with a different center emblem) until the end in ’96.
Yup. The ’77-’79 Caprice wheel cover was a whole hell of a lot classier.
Not really in keeping with the theme, but after finding the wire hubcaps on my 79 Lincoln unpalatable, I found some (somewhat battered) replacements. I think that basic design is evocative of the turbine design that really smartened up the Continentals of the era.
Then wouldn’t you know it, I go and buy another car with fake wires, this time a ’92 Roadmaster. But the ones on this car actually suit it and they’ve grown on me.
I owned an ’89 Park Avenue with similar wire wheel covers as those above from your Roadmaster. However, the Buick wire wheel covers from 80-85 have pretty much been my all time favorite. I’ve owned 2 B-body Buicks (’82 and ’84 models) that had those. When those things were cleaned up and polished, they gleamed in the light as they rolled down the highway. Loved…
Those were Cadillac’s wire wheelcovers from the 80s with a Buick badge in the center.
Bingo – probably why I like ’em.
Lincoln Mark III hubcaps
Might be the same as what went downunder for the 1973 LTD and Landau hardtop, they stuck out a mile and were a very heavy hubcap
My 67 Mercury has the standard set of hub caps on it but there was a second option with a spinner. Took me a few years but I managed to collect four NOS hub caps without a scratch.
I have a 1966 Mercury Parklane Breezeway with those hubcaps (or very close), which look a lot like my 1967 Thunderbird spinner hubcaps. I like the recessed spinner on both.
Both 66 and 67 had them with one difference. The vanes on the 66 are argent in color while the 67 they are black.
Actually, the 1967’s vanes were argent and the 1968’s vanes were dark charcoal.
The 1964 through 1966 are similar to each other.
But, good catch.
No, the 67 were in black or dark charcoal as you call it. My 1967 Mercury brochure, right beside me, shows that cover. So that would mean two years black and a couple of years argent.
I was referring to the 1967 and 1968 Thunderbird wheel covers.
Yes, the 1966 Mercury was argent (or maybe with slight blue tint), and the 1968 was dark charcoal.
Dodge truck UFO’s.
It’s hard to go wrong with this for Worst, though like many things I detested back then it is oddly charming now.
The best is in your lead photo. A close 2nd would be the late 70s wire wheel cover from Cadillac, it looked so much more real than what had come before.
Datsun B210? I was just thinking of that one.
Someone else posted about these above! My grade 2 teacher had a B-210 with these wheelcovers and I thought they were ugly!
Being shorter, I remember how wheel cover styling was an important thing for me back then as I had a different point of view of cars! Family members thought it was funny when I was 3 years old and naming car brands by their wheel covers and their logos (when they had one!).
Although mine is considerably more dented, a DeSoto hubcap like this one is the pride and joy of my meager collection, more for its age and rarity than for any favorable aesthetics:
DERP! Almost forgot to snap a shot of the Plymouth cap i scored at the Portland swap meet for like $15. Goof garage swag.
Way cool!
One of the worst. It looks dented when motionless, and looks wobbly when in motion. 1964 Studebaker Gran Turismo prototype.
The 1964 Ford Galaxie wheel cover is nice (XL has tri-spinner) – has turbine vains similar to the 1957 Thunderbird.
1978 Cordoba is not bad (accept for the center) – looks good on the car.
One of my favorites too. This one better? (Dodge Palomino)
And rarely seen on a 1970-2 Barracuda these days.
We got these in Australia on the 1975 Valiants with a small centre cap held with 2 studs to cover the Plymouth Division lettering.
Swartz, you’re on glue; the ’62 Plymouth full wheel cover was very appropriate to the vehicles it came on. So was its immediate predecessor on the ’61, and its direct descendant on the ’63. It’s easy to rehash the perpetual haw-haw-haw-those-cars-are-stoopid-ugly-losers-hurr-hurr-hurr trope; it’s harder but a more worthwhile use of words to look at a design and evaluate its elements in their context. That aside, the ’61-2-3 Plymouth wheel covers are three of my favourites. I can think of many wheel covers a great deal less thoughtfully designed.
Another good one from that maker and era: the 1960-’62 Valiant “flying saucer” hubcap:
The 1962-3 Plymouth dish wheel covers are very nice and cleanly styled.
I’d also give a shout out to the ’60s-’70s Volvo hubcap. Stainless steel, gasketed(!) to the wheel, and affixed(!) with a bolt(!). Nicely designed, but extra-beautiful for its exceptional functionality. The lug nuts on an equipped Volvo never got rusty or grotty, no matter how ugly the weather or how salty the roads.
I think they originated on a Mercury Comet (?) but were used on the first Falcon GT in 1967, later part of the GS option pack.
Those look like model car wheels, cut neatly from the chrome sprue but not yet detailed out.
1965 Thunderbird standard wheel cover. I like these better than the ‘deluxe’ spinner style.
Always loved these lancer spinner hubcaps from 1959 Dodges.
As a follow up, I think it would be cool to do a QOTD on favorite steering wheel designs…. I’ve included 3 of my fav’s in color of choice….
1984/85 Buick Leasbre (also shared with Park Avenue)
How about we save these for when that question comes up? Can you wait?
have that same wheel on my 86 LeSabre Estate Wagon.
Yes, very attractive and it was always easy to see the instruments. Liked the hard smooth plastic Cracked.slightly after 10 years.
Some of the worst I’ve seen come from the Beretta and Corsica. They would’ve worked better on something like the Geo Storm, but not so well on the Corsica for some reason.
One of the best I’ve seen (because they work perfectly with the car and surprisingly blend well with many others) are the generation one Dodge Neon hubcaps. Specifically the “bubble buddy” ones.
White on a white car (iirc some red ones too), “wheel silver” with any other color.
I’ll nominate these for best and worst. Used on the early ’70s Cougar and Maverick. Best because they were pretty unique in the industry. Worst because the center cups inevitably looked like crap after a few years, and eventually fell out.
I have always loved the early closed Citroen XM wheel covers , just flat and closed with 5 faux lugs
These were cool. I remember dis assembling a set and cleaning the wires with SOS pads. They really looked great clean and installed on my 1970 Dodge Challenger back in 1975.
European readers surely remember Fiat Panda´s “Italia ´90 World Cup special edition” wheel covers. Hideous or genius?
Ack! They might make my eyes bleed less if they were on a (much) less boxy car.
I’m surprised nobody mentioned these. Sure, they are truck caps, far from rare, and the trucks themselves can get pretty rusty, but I’m still fond of them.
Here are the rare Chevy truck full covers from the late 1960’s. I cant find a picture, but 1990’s GM trucks also had a rare full cover option, in addition to alloys and trim rings with chrome caps on steelies.
The plain Jane, boring-look dishes on the left came factory on my Plymouth. Then I found a cool set of mid to late 60’s Barracuda wheel covers on Craigslist and put those on. I think these, with the slots and raised center cap, are some of the best-looking from that era. However, if I could have found some Fury wheel covers with the spinners (like the Impala SS), I would have bought those.
Holden “GTS” wheel trim, introduced in 1968. Australia’s first home grown trim.
Holden used rings under the hubcaps before, and Ford Australia went ( as usual then) to Daddy in Dearborn for their wheel trims and a whole lot more.
These wheel covers taught me as a kid that not everything is as it seems. I loved Monaros and I thought they were the actual wheels, I got to examine one close up when I was about 7 or 8, I still remember the disappointment when I felt the thin fakeness of them.
Easily Australia’s best wheel cover though.
I like the many variations of this design. Buick offered a Skylark spinner version in the late 60’s along with a trishield and a Regal variant in the early seventies. Turbine designs always look good to me.
This is the style that Buick introduced on the 1966 Riviera with spinners and on the 1967 without. The Corvette and Caprice later had the exact same wheel covers with different emblems. Chevy also used regular 1967 Buick LeSabre/Wildcat/Riviera wheelcovers on the 1969 models.
I can’t help but like the simple design of the 1973 Chevrolet Impala cover.
I absolutely hate this design…along with the 15″ base wheel cover of the 1975-1977 Cutlasses.
The color-matched painted MB covers still win. A friend has a ’77 SL in Maple Yellow with the original wheel covers. Classy.
1960 Continental nominated for “biggest emblem ever”.
What about some Oldsmobile Fiesta hup caps for the best ones? Especially the ones with the Saturns on them
My personal favourites of the disc type covers were the ones found on the 71-73 Electras and Rivieras. Simple, no rattles, they stay on, and they always shine up well.
I have general disdain for most, if not all, wire hubcaps because I have personally never owned, or knew anyone who owned, a set that did not squeak or rattle. That and they were basically impossible to keep clean.
I agree with you about the wire wheel covers! Noisy and hard to clean!
The simple, almost spherically round wheel covers/hubcaps on VWs up through about 1965 before they became flatter. Looked perfect on bugs and buses alike, and as iconic as the rest of the car.
Not the CC era, but I happen to love the charcoal-hued wheel covers on the Tesla Model 3 and Y, even though the first thing many owners do is pull them off to reveal the attractive alloy wheel hidden behind them (which costs them about 10 miles of range due to worse aerodynamics). I’m surprised this look hasn’t become a popular generic style for replacement wheel covers for other cars.
82-85 Cimarron alloys. See photo from Car and Driver review. Posted in CC Vintage Review on 12/30/20.
Among my favorites are these very rare optional wheel covers available on the ’80-’81 Chevy Caprice.
Even when new they weren’t seen very often.
1975-79 base Chevy Nova dog dishes, literally looked like cheap pie tins. I saw an old Nova today with them, and had usual dents. Not as nice as older Chevy dog dish caps.
As someone posted above, liked the ’73 Impala covers. Also like the ’71-’76 Caprice’s, usually differs each year. My dad had a ”67 Chevy pickup [in the ’80s] with ’77 Caprice covers, btw.
I will say one thing for the Mercedes-Benz full wheel-covers: They stayed on when you drove like Rudolf Uhlenhaut. I had a decade-newer VW with full wheel-covers that flew off on entrance ramps, just like the Detroit cars I started out in. The Mercedes could be cornered at any speed it could achieve without the wheel covers sailing off, even though the tires were only 185/70HR14 Dunlops with casings that moved around far more than the tires on the Jetta.
I wonder what the secret was to MB’s wheelcover attachment that held them on so firmly. Most Detroit wheelcovers had flimsy tension clips around the rim that, as stated, didn’t do too good a job of keeping them on for long.
This was famously highlighted on the classic Bullitt Dodge Charger that seemed to lose its wheelcovers around every corner, then they’d magically reappear back on the car in the next shot.
Did anyone else grow up with a local “hubcap place”? As in, a local garage that had a fence covered with a vast array of single wheel covers and hubcaps? There were two in Beaver County, PA where I grew up in the 1970s. You knew that when the inevitable happened and you lost a wheel cover without knowing it, you had to go over to the “hubcap place,” as everyone called it, and hope they had a match. Of course, my dad always owned Chevrolets with “Rally Wheels” (the universal term for GM road wheels) so it wasn’t an issue for us.
I’ve always hated the ones that came on my ’67 Impala. Especially once the centers inevitably go missing.
I’ve long hated the covers on the ’67-8 Eldorado–they ruin a beautiful car–but the ’69-70 are really boring. At least they don’t distract and detract from the car.
These 3 hubcaps posing as flying saucers in “Plan 9 from Outer Space” get my vote as the ugliest.
Rumor has it there was a Roadmaster on the studio lot missing 3 hubcaps.
True? False?