Yes, there wasn't too much choice in Australia. Mawer wheels and Simmons began to appear around this time. Minilites started to gain popularity in 1969, and even in the Trans-Am championship where everyone was using Minilites by 1970, several teams started 1969 on American Racing style wheels, including the Bud Moore and Shelby Mustang teams. Mag wheels were only for the wealthy teams. Most just used widened steel wheels.Originally Posted by John McKechnie
Is this correct - didnt the first Geoghegan & Jane Mustangs run mags, hello Miles, what were they American Racing Torque Thrusters? The Beechey HK sure didnt run widened steel wheels, although the Beechey Muzzy did.
Beechey ran steel wheels... but not always...Originally posted by cavvy
Is this correct - didnt the first Geoghegan & Jane Mustangs run mags, hello Miles, what were they American Racing Torque Thrusters? The Beechey HK sure didnt run widened steel wheels, although the Beechey Muzzy did.
This pic was taken in August '65 at Catalina Park.
Just to answer a few questions that have come up here, the introduction of alloy wheels to the Australian racing scene could be plumbed by following advertising and race reports.
And at the risk of wasting a lot of my own time, I did a bit of this, traversing RCN page by page from 1965 through 1967. Here are things I found:
Bob Jane was on alloy wheels, probably American Torque Thrusts, from the first outing of his Mustang in April. Peter Manton, and therefore probably also Brian Foley, had Minilites on his Mini by July. The Geoghegan Mustang debut was on August 29 and it was on Torque Thrusts.
Advertising from Hunter and Delbridge in the December, 1965, issue included their own brand of alloy wheels. They sold for £10 each, though by the February, 1966, issue they were up to £12 each. It wasn't general inflation, either, as their ad included disc brake conversions in both issues but their price didn't change.
These wheels were similar in pattern to Brabham wheels, they had rolled steel rims (just like you get on regular steel wheels) and I think these must be one of the type that had some kind of rivet to attach the rims.
The February issue of 1966 has an ad for Robbie Mac's Speed Shop in which alloy wheels are listed among their offerings, the following month Brian Foley Motors lists 'Mag alloy' wheels for Minis. In that same issue there's a classified for the Magnolia Climax sports car which mentions 15" cast electron wheels. This was a South Australian-built car.
Then the April issue sees the beginning of advertising from CC Tyres & Wheels for their Hi-Torque wheels, later called Road Runner Hi-Torque wheels. Like the H & D wheels, these have a regular rolled rim, but they seem to have a flange welded into them and bolts through from front to rear to join the alloy to the steel. They aren't very attractive, but were priced higher at £17.10.0 with a premium of £2 for chromed rims.
Then the surprise of it all... in that same issue there's an ad from Scotties and another from Modern Accessories with simulated alloy wheel trims, already there are fakes before the market is even gaining strength!
The June '66 issue has a picture of the new alloy wheels adopted by the Ford Works cars in England in the European Scene feature. In that issue's classified we see that Andrew Mustard (who had an Elfin WR375) offers Minilites in a wide range of sizes from 10" to 15".
Foley responded in the next issue by including Minilites for a wide range of models other than Minis while Lancaster Motors begins running an ad with a drawing of a Mini fitted with their 'Customag Wheel Trims' complete with 5-stud fitment!
An accessories feature in the August '66 issue sees Foley claiming to be the sole Australian agent for Minilites, Allspeed Performance Centre in Brisbane offering a large range of mag wheels, Dave Evans Racing Equipment (Brisbane) listing mag wheels, H & N Firth offering alloy wheels for Cortinas (POA), Neil Parkinson Performance Centre on the Gold Coast listing the CC Tyres Road Runner wheels and South Coast Wrecking at Southport offering magnesium wheels.
In an ad for the Buckle Monaco conversion in the September issue the photo shows a Brabham-style wheel that's almost certainly a one-piece cast alloy wheel. October's advance is from 'Woodpark Speed Equipment', not yet open and never to advertise again, who claim to be about to make GoCo mag wheels available.
In the November issue we see a pic of Norm Beechey in the Hillman Imp at Collingrove and the wheels look like Minilites to me. Mick Crampton begins advertising in that issue with the wording 'imitation magnesium wheels (actual castings) to suit Mini Minor' in their ad. Whatever that might mean.
By the December issue CC Tyres have their pricing of their Hi-Torque wheels from $32.95, possibly a minor price drop or possibly a smaller rim size or something. Mind you, none of these rims were very wide.
In February '67 there's the beginning of advertising for St George Imported Tyres in which they have mag wheels and 'mag centres for your rims'.
The July 30 meeting report has a photo of Beechey's Nova which appears to show him on alloy wheels, though later and earlier meetings show him on steel wheels. And in September there's a photo of Rusty French in a Chev Impala that also appears to have alloy wheels, but they aren't clear enough to say so with certainty.
Tasman Mags are advertised from the November '67 issue with alloy centres and regular rolled rims starting at $32.95 each, a month later CC Tyres makes a new advance with one-piece cast alloy wheels for Minis at $40 each.
Regarding the spun rims used on Simmons, Dale, Mawer etc wheels, these were around for ages. Ron Hopwood spun them for most makers in both steel and aluminium and even back into the fifties people like Ron Tauranac cast centres to suit.
Tony Simmons came up with his Hustler SC1 during 1968 and this had the first of his 8-spoke lightweight wheels using the Hopwood rims. The very first of these were prone to cracking on the outer part of the spokes and he quickly revised the patterns to put more material into them.
Somewhere along the way Big Dave told me the story about how he came to begin making the wheels that Mawer Engineering grew up on. I've forgotten the detail now, but I'd say it was late '69 at least before he got into the business.
Another variation on the them is the Mario Costa wheels out of Melbourne, these were used on the Cheetahs and their spinnings were made without a well to allow tyre fitting. The rims had to be split for tyre changes, they were alloy and very light.
I hope that gives some idea of how the scene changed from the mid-sixties to 1970 or so, it was certainly evident to all enthusiasts that alloy wheels were arriving even if they weren't on every second car on the road.
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