Road wheels for an Imperial
- Thread starter BLIMP
- Start date
78Brougham
"Chump"
I'm not so sure about that. I'm thinking the '67-'68 used the 3/4 ton Dodge pickup ball joints.
Got me scratching my head now.
Carmine
Old Man with a Hat
Allow me to offer $.02 on this and I'll go away.
I get the motivation to come up with an alternate Imperial wheel/wheelcover, since I think some of us find the "plain" 1970+ style such a letdown. One thing I'll say is that if you're going to run the stock covers, they better be mint. Add a few dents or remove some shine and they really look bad.
If I had to choose an alternate, it wouldn't be the road-style rims, and I'll tell you why... They look great on a Chrysler, (or Plymouth/Dodge) but fusie Imperials already suffer from being too Chrysler-like and the last thing I want to do is make an Imperial look like a fancy Newport. Then add some puffy K-mart accessory-aisle pentastar stickers from the 80s over Chevy logos and I want to heave.
So what does that leave? '69 covers look good but they also don't look right. I've seen the '62/'63 style on '72/'73 and they look surprisingly good on these cars but again, they look bad as soon as you see a dent.
Having exhausted all wheel cover ideas, we must look at aftermarket rims. This gives the advantage of stepping up to 17" tires, which I found a huge asset on my '73. You still even have the potential of running whitewalls, either with Diamondback-type tires or by spinning some SUV tires into whitewalls, which I've also done several times.
I think you've can go in two directions here... The first is trying to give your Imperial the look of a luxury car that was used to pull a race trailer circa 1973. In other words, a style that was period-correct when it would have been new. My '73 Coupe had Motorwheel Spyder's on it almost from the day it was delivered. (An unusual and attractive choice which tells me people didn't like those smoothie hubcaps even back then). I also think Keystone Klassics or some Halibrand-style rims give that look.
The second route would be to try and create the rim Chrysler should have offered on these cars to begin with. The closest I can envision would be something without too much "fuss" since the bodies are clean. I'm thinking this rim, with an eagle or maybe even the original 70s logo 3D printed on a cap.
The only wire-style I could see would be something very simple, but I'm not even sure I can get on board since most of them look like they were designed for 13" rims and just use the same wire length regardless of rim size.
Again, just some thoughts.
I get the motivation to come up with an alternate Imperial wheel/wheelcover, since I think some of us find the "plain" 1970+ style such a letdown. One thing I'll say is that if you're going to run the stock covers, they better be mint. Add a few dents or remove some shine and they really look bad.
If I had to choose an alternate, it wouldn't be the road-style rims, and I'll tell you why... They look great on a Chrysler, (or Plymouth/Dodge) but fusie Imperials already suffer from being too Chrysler-like and the last thing I want to do is make an Imperial look like a fancy Newport. Then add some puffy K-mart accessory-aisle pentastar stickers from the 80s over Chevy logos and I want to heave.
So what does that leave? '69 covers look good but they also don't look right. I've seen the '62/'63 style on '72/'73 and they look surprisingly good on these cars but again, they look bad as soon as you see a dent.
Having exhausted all wheel cover ideas, we must look at aftermarket rims. This gives the advantage of stepping up to 17" tires, which I found a huge asset on my '73. You still even have the potential of running whitewalls, either with Diamondback-type tires or by spinning some SUV tires into whitewalls, which I've also done several times.
I think you've can go in two directions here... The first is trying to give your Imperial the look of a luxury car that was used to pull a race trailer circa 1973. In other words, a style that was period-correct when it would have been new. My '73 Coupe had Motorwheel Spyder's on it almost from the day it was delivered. (An unusual and attractive choice which tells me people didn't like those smoothie hubcaps even back then). I also think Keystone Klassics or some Halibrand-style rims give that look.
The second route would be to try and create the rim Chrysler should have offered on these cars to begin with. The closest I can envision would be something without too much "fuss" since the bodies are clean. I'm thinking this rim, with an eagle or maybe even the original 70s logo 3D printed on a cap.
The only wire-style I could see would be something very simple, but I'm not even sure I can get on board since most of them look like they were designed for 13" rims and just use the same wire length regardless of rim size.
Again, just some thoughts.
commando1
Old Man with a Hat
I'd have no problem using a GM wheel on an Imp.
I also find it difficult to come up with a reason why Mopar never offered a styled wheel on the Imp.
I also find it difficult to come up with a reason why Mopar never offered a styled wheel on the Imp.
Carmine
Old Man with a Hat
Because they were dumb in a lot of areas relating to "branding", but offering the same rim you could order on a Plymouth would have been the same type of mistake.
Mike66Chryslers
Senior Member
If you have any pictures of that I'd like to see them.
I think those wheels would look fantastic! I'm surprised nobody else in the aftermarket has offered their version of the Cadillac Sabre-style wheels.
Carmine
Old Man with a Hat
If I did, they'd be old-timey pics before the world became the matrix. And I'd have no idea where they are.
MarPar
Meat Man with a Hat
Mike66Chryslers
Senior Member
I know what Spyder wheels look like. I wanted to see how they'd look on an Imperial.
Most of you have seen my Imperials to ad nauseam... but I would duplicate the O G. wire rims and white walls on PO Kenny's Old Red in the future for a different Imperial. However, I am buying some original wheel covers now from a forum member to use down the road. I have really, really fallen for the original, classic look on these 72-73 models.
Carmine
Old Man with a Hat
That's what I meant by "simple wires". Those look pretty good.
Genuine wire wheels win hands down IMO. They must be straight-laced instead of being the cross-laced type seen e.g. on the Thunderbird Sport Roadster back in 62-63. Hey Doc, I`m leaning towards buying my own set of OG wires for Impster, but we`ll see what really happens.
Mike66Chryslers
Senior Member
Those billet reproduction Cadillac Sabre wheels that @Carmine posted cost over $1000 each. I found a similar style from American Racing, their "Max Grundy VN478 Turbine" wheels look similar and may be a bit less pricey.
Customize The VN478 Turbine!
You can see pics of these wheels with on a '61 Chrysler if you google "1961 Chrysler Newport max Grundy".
Some other ideas on this post at forwardlook.net. I see that they like the VN478 there too.
Viewing a thread - aftermarket wheels that look decent?
Customize The VN478 Turbine!
You can see pics of these wheels with on a '61 Chrysler if you google "1961 Chrysler Newport max Grundy".
Some other ideas on this post at forwardlook.net. I see that they like the VN478 there too.
Viewing a thread - aftermarket wheels that look decent?
Carmine
Old Man with a Hat
Nice work! Those look excellent, come in 17" and adding a proper logo would be a breeze.
found another Imp pic with road wheels.
What's with the jumbo phone?
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