A few of you Digest-ers have been asking about wheel straightening (or is it
one of you a bunch of times). There is a fellow called Mike at Valley Wheel
Service (used to be Valley Wire Wheel) who now does alloy and steel wheel
repair and truing. I'm not sure about his number but I'm sure area code 818
information should be able to find it for you if you are interested.
Just plain Phil confessed that he would like to build a Cobra-ish kit car.
There are kit cars and then there are kit cars. The Cobra replica that I
personally like best is a Canadian made body of the early 289 version that
looks like the last original AC Zepher(Ford) with narrow rear wings and mild
wheel arch flares. This is compared to the mucho macho 427 styled monsters
with the fat rear wings that most manufacturers replicate. When combined with
seven inch wire wheels or a set of the new repop Hallibrand alloys and a late
model 5 liter Mustang mill, one of these could pretty much pass for a real
one and still has the proper Britcar look and stance as compared to the
"I'd-like-to-be-driving-a-real-street
rod-but-can't-meet-the-type-of-girls-that-I'm-most comfortable-with" look of
the 427 models.
Other cool kit cars on Rick's list include:
* The J2X Allard from Neal Hardy in San Diego. Though these are "wheel
sensative" the bodies are very close to the original and if one has the
restraint that is needed to resist fitting too many gee-gaws like bootlid
racks, Brooklin windscreens and cloisenne grill badges as well as taking the
time to choose five (not six!) authentic looking wheels, you will have a car
that also bridges the gap between streetrod and classic without the driver
looking like a Palm Springs golfer on a tear.
Real Allards usually were fitted with plain Mercury wheels & "baby moons"
(often imprinted with the Allard logo, but not always) or used not-very-deep
Jag XK120 style wire wheels. The most authentic look would be 16 inchers that
fill the wheel arches better but at the expence of tyre choice.
Other cool bolt-togethers are the Beck 550 Spyder that looks like James
Dean's "lil' Bastard" Porsche before the accident and the XC53 1953-55
Corvette replica that is best distinguished from an original by having
considerably better glassfibre bodywork. It uses 1968-74 Chevy Nova/Camero
components and again is wheel and steering wheel sensative. These look OK
with old or repo custom wheels like American Torque Thrusts, Hallibrands or
Crager S/S. Stay away from any plated wire wheel wide enough to make the car
look like it would be more at home in Las Vegas (not that there's anything
wrong with that). See you on the Funway!
Rick Feibusch
Automotive Journalist/Appraiser
http://www.EnglishCars.com/rick.html
mailto:RFeibusch@aol.com
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