I just don't see it!

-
circlepilot

circlepilot

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 15, 2014
Messages
1,160
Reaction score
942
Location
El Dorado, Arkansas
I've made this comment before...now I want to "rant" about it. What in the hell is it with these "professional builders?" (Motor Trend) They come up with kick *** builds and in the end, they take a dump on it with the "hideous"...yes! I said it...hideous, freaking "wagon wheels." I'm not a young guy, nor am I so old that I'm not open to progress...But wagon wheels??? A "drop dead, bad *** 73 Barracuda with wagon wheels. GIVE-ME-A-BREAK!!!
Rant over.
Norm
 
Motor-Trend-Drift-Cuda-1.png
96ecabfa3db2a9488dd22c01a04be0f6.jpg
Is this what they were thinking?
 
circlepilot said:
I've made this comment before...now I want to "rant" about it. What in the hell is it with these "professional builders?" (Motor Trend) They come up with kick *** builds and in the end, they take a dump on it with the "hideous"...yes! I said it...hideous, freaking "wagon wheels." I'm not a young guy, nor am I so old that I'm not open to progress...But wagon wheels??? A "drop dead, bad *** 73 Barracuda with wagon wheels. GIVE-ME-A-BREAK!!!
Rant over.
Norm
Click to expand...
It's all very subjective to the owner and/or builder's taste. What would you prefer to see?
 
I have tried quite a few wheels myself before finding the ones I like best. Those spoked wheels seem popular with the road race cars. I think they used them back in the 70's even.
 
circlepilot said:
I've made this comment before...now I want to "rant" about it. What in the hell is it with these "professional builders?" (Motor Trend) They come up with kick *** builds and in the end, they take a dump on it with the "hideous"...yes! I said it...hideous, freaking "wagon wheels." I'm not a young guy, nor am I so old that I'm not open to progress...But wagon wheels??? A "drop dead, bad *** 73 Barracuda with wagon wheels. GIVE-ME-A-BREAK!!!
Rant over.
Norm
Click to expand...
I personally think those fender flares are worse
 
I think those are a very light wheel and somewhat era correct, but that rainbow strobe stripe yikes
 
Those are copy of Minilite wheels used on trams am race cars 70'sm era. The larger diameter just looks wrong IMO. I guest these builders are tired of the same old 5 spokes that is on everything today even minivans.
 
Those are mini lites, and they’re awesome. Also totally historical for the trans am cars. I’d totally run a set of 18” mini lites with modern tires that aren’t horrible hockey pucks like everyone runs on these cars.
2AC483BE-9414-40F0-A4D0-156732DD77E0.jpeg


1B01AD03-4452-414D-818B-92EAFE9BA99F.jpeg


Wanna know what’s hideous? Mopar rallye wheels. Possibly the ugliest wheel ever made. Yet for some reason everyone likes those godawful disgusting disasters. Worst wheel ever. Wrap them in BFG TA’s and never turn a corner at speed again. Boring.
 
I don’t know what the original poster is considering “wagon wheels”

A56 thought he meant mini-lites.... but I’m not sure.

I thought these were wagon wheels:

10249873_201221922644.jpg
 
autoxcuda said:
I don’t know what the original poster is considering “wagon wheels”

A56 thought he meant mini-lites.... but I’m not sure.
Click to expand...
Yes, my comparison in pictures shows mini lites on Gurney's cuda which slightly mimick the wheels on that other cuda and was wondering if Motor Trend had the same idea. I figure everyone here figures the same. lol
 
A56 said:
Yes, my comparison in pictures shows mini lites on Gurney's cuda which slightly mimick the wheels on that other cuda and was wondering if Motor Trend had the same idea. I figure everyone here figures the same. lol
Click to expand...

I have no idea what rims the OP is talking about. He should have shown a picture or referenced a specific car.
 
autoxcuda said:
I don’t know what the original poster is considering “wagon wheels”

A56 thought he meant mini-lites.... but I’m not sure.

I thought these were wagon wheels:

View attachment 1715731893
Click to expand...
We always called them "rednecks' because they always ended up on pickups and they actually looked pretty good
 
Last edited:
I personally like the mini-lites, although I stayed with 15" wheels as I hate the look of the rubber band tires.

IMG_4664.JPG
 
I'm just happy there isn't an LS in it since that all anyone knows to install these days. Just like the custom bike builders and their cookie cutter frames and engines. Not much custom about a Lego snap together build.
 
rklein383 said:
I personally like the mini-lites, although I stayed with 15" wheels as I hate the look of the rubber band tires.

View attachment 1715731953
Click to expand...

Yeah people that care more about looks than actual handling performance usually do.

Unfortunately there are exactly zero performance handling, street legal tires in a reasonable size for a muscle car available for 15” rims. Drag radials and track only stuff is really it, unless you want to run all season hockey pucks. No thanks.


A56 said:
I personally think those fender flares are worse
Click to expand...

rklein383 said:
Those wheel flairs are hideous.
Click to expand...

The flares could have been done better, even for the JDM style they were going for. The sad part is that ‘Cuda is only running 245/45/17’s up front and 255/40/17’s out back. They could have put 275/40/17’s on all four corners if it was actually about handling instead of looks. Heck with a little rolling and pushing 295/35/18’s wouldn’t be hard at all.

The worst part is actually the suspension. Coil-overs bolted straight to the shock towers. That’s a show car, no one that knows anything about chassis or suspension design would let the unreinforced shock towers carry the weight of the car. Torsion bars put all the suspension loads in the K frame and crossmember, the shock towers were never designed for all the suspension loads.
919400B0-5B23-407B-BDBF-615BDC93AFC5.jpeg


DC863B36-2BB6-453C-93AF-28F64E51E2D6.jpeg
 
72bluNblu said:
Yeah people that care more about looks than actual handling performance usually do.

Unfortunately there are exactly zero performance handling, street legal tires in a reasonable size for a muscle car available for 15” rims. Drag radials and track only stuff is really it, unless you want to run all season hockey pucks. No thanks.






The flares could have been done better, even for the JDM style they were going for. The sad part is that ‘Cuda is only running 245/45/17’s up front and 255/40/17’s out back. They could have put 275/40/17’s on all four corners if it was actually about handling instead of looks. Heck with a little rolling and pushing 295/35/18’s wouldn’t be hard at all.

The worst part is actually the suspension. Coil-overs bolted straight to the shock towers. That’s a show car, no one that knows anything about chassis or suspension design would let the unreinforced shock towers carry the weight of the car. Torsion bars put all the suspension loads in the K frame and crossmember, the shock towers were never designed for all the suspension loads.
View attachment 1715732038

View attachment 1715732039
Click to expand...

I nif anyone makes a lower ''stock type'' control arm for coil overs , to stay away from torsion bars -header clearance .
 
A56 said:
View attachment 1715731881View attachment 1715731882Is this what they were thinking?
Click to expand...
What we used to refer to as Minilites back in the day. Lightweight design - they were common on autocross and race cars in the 60s - 70s. They look good on MGBs and some euro sports cars of that era, but not on vintage Mopars JMO. Maybe I’m usually just a ‘gimme 5 spokes and I’m good’ kind of guy, but I do like many of the factory rally(e) wheels.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top