Wheel color

patrick66

Old Man with a Hat
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OK, kids, quick question for you all...In the 1966MY, Chrysler changed the Imperial wheel covers from the previous '64 - '65 design to what ended up being the '66 - '68 design. My question is about 1966 wheels...Did these come body-colored, or were they painted black? I know that on "A" and "B"-body cars of that time, if a wheel had a full wheel cover originally, the wheels were black, regardless of the vehicle color. If it was ordered minus covers, or had cop caps on it, the wheels came body-color.

So, here is the problem...Imperial never, ever had cop caps, nor did they come minus wheel covers. My '66 wheels are body-color, and the paint looks 52 years old! Powder-coating is very difficult to match to paint, and would cost me about $60/wheel. I can get them blasted and painted for about $75/wheel. I'm not particularly worried about the cost, but I do need to know with certainty whether the '66 Imperial wheel was black or painted body color from the factory???

Of course, if I can come up with the green for the K-H wires that were available from 1955 - 1966, these are a beautiful wheel on the Imperials!!!

http://onlyoldiesgarage.com/xcart/images/P/76_sers_cryslr_wire.jpg
76_sers_cryslr_wire[1].jpg
 
Everything I've seen on Imperials indicates the rims should be black.
 
1966 Imperial Wheels and Wheel cover centers are Black, Probably Semi-Gloss
 
The '64 Imperial wheel covers had the body color in the center. Nice Cover Too!
 
66 are flat black in the center AND are different from 67, 68, 69 in that they, and only they, have the valve hole for the tire valve in between two of the vanes. 67-8-9 have the hole located farther out on the rim of the wheel cover.
 
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