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faustmb

I thought some of you might think this is cool (I do)

This is an old racing slick from my dads stash. It's hard to see from the pictures and rust, but the rivets were drilled out and the center of the wheel was moved inward over 1" where it looks like it was welded back in. The tire was has no wear on it. Maybe I'll blast the rust off and use it for garage art.

I guess this is how it was done back in the day.

Ol racer

FYI

Sometimes the 'center' was welded inside the 'back side' of the rim changing the Offset further. Back in the day of lot of ingenuity and little or no money, it was common practice to build your own wheels.

Often depending on Track Rules, guys would cut the 'wider sides' from two rims then weld them together for a real 'wide' wheel. Naturally mounting tires was difficult. To keep cuts straight, they bolted the rim onto a race car then vise gripped a torch onto a pc of metal and slowly rotated the wheel while cutting.

Occassionally they would tack weld the small ring from the short side of rim onto the wheels to prevent denting a wheel on contact with the wall or another competitor....Reminded me of roman chariots...

Most RS wheels had double 'center' for added strength....

Browniepetersen

Since we are talking racing, in the late 50's and early 60's dad use to help my brother's and I prepare a car for racing. Dad owned a tire shop and was known for having great recaps. Dad would leave the tread forming plates out of the tire mold, add an extra layer of camelback rubber and cook it a bit on the hot side. When he would take the tire out of the mold, he would put it on the buffer to rough it up a bit so that we could get better grip out of the starting blocks.

rich cummings

that wheel does not go with that center-- it either a buick wheel or a station wagon wheel-- the center was welded into that wheel to change offset and also to mount a wider tire--

to make wheels for a 10 hunderd 15 dirt slick-- we would cut a rim in half and weld in a peice of well caseing [ pipe]--you could make the wheel as wide as you wanted -

old dirt track racer from the 60s---

rich cummings

btw-- the center was welded to the inside of the wheel to make the off set wider to the outside -- it made the rear end wide - sorta a preload to the right- as you went into the corner the car would rool up on the right side and load that tire-- -

i used to run different size wheels and tires --

13 in -left front -- 15 in x8 right front - 15x10 in the rear

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