BUILD THREAD For 1964 Falcon Sprint to Monte Carlo Rallye FIA spec'

[Steve Holmes]

While looking for wheels, I was looking to see what was being manufactured in 1964 with regard to mag wheels.
I will likely need to use an alloy rim for racing. Due to the age and rarity of the Kelsey Hays original steel rims and coupled with that the failure rate of many of these steel rims, I have come to the realisation that it will be safer to use an alloy rim. I will likely use and American Racing type rim. I will still restore the OEM steel rims and use these for transporting the car etc.

I found this information on Astro Mag wheel that were produced in 64.

http://losboulevardos.cc/2008/08/eve...-supremes.html

Great if you want to build a low rider

Hi Paul, the Astro Supremes are great looking wheels, but definitely only for road use. They've always just been a custom road wheel, and although there are many companies now making these wheels, they all follow a similar construction method in that they make them as a 2-piece wheel with outer rim and centre/spokes, chrome the pieces separately, then spot weld the two parts together. There have been cases of these wheels breaking on road cars, so definitely no good for a race car.

Its a bit of a tough choice when building a period correct 1964 car, as there weren't too many options in 1964. The Falcon Monte Carlo cars obviously used steel wheels, and even the Falcon Sprints that were road raced in the US for the most part used steel wheels. You could simply purchase a new set of steel wheels from Coker Tire, Wheel Vintiques, etc.

The Falcon Sprints that raced in the British Saloon Car Championship under Group 5 rules used a wide variety of wheels, including Cobra wheels, which look really cool. But of course this falls outside the time-frame you're working to, as these cars raced from 1966 onwards.

Probably the closest wheel style for your time-frame would be the American Racing Torq Thrust. These appeared on Trans-Am cars during the first year of the T-A championship in 1966, and both the Falcon Sprints that now run with Historic Trans-Am use Torq Thrusts, even though these cars raced in period on steel wheels.

I really like the approach Michael Eisenberg has taken with his early Falcon Sprint. He has painted the Torq Thrusts black, which makes them look really nice and subtle while still giving the car a tough look: