Ken, seeing that Beaumont at the top of the page is going to take some of the chill out of February.
I remember finding this car on kijiji and thinking how unique and intriguing it was. Extremely glad it has found a good home.
Your write up is truly one of the more entertaining ones.
Congratulations Ken on being top of the page again. Well deserving. Your Beaumont is a very cool car. Hope to see it in person sometime this summer. And your story was very entertaining. I think you missed your calling.
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'68 Parisienne 2+2 Convertible Matador Red (Resale Red but not for sale).
So, would this make a good wheel treatment for the Beaumont? This is a rough mockup and I kind of like it (especially with the red car) but it also looks like the hubcaps are kind of a bit big for the 15x5 rallys. Maybe if I went to a 16 inch rally? What do you guys think?
I think you'd want 16" rallys so the hubcap doesn't cover up the slots on the wheels.
Yep.
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Prince Edward Island
'64 Parisienne CS "barn find" - last on the road in '86 ... Owner Protection Plan booklet, original paint, original near-mint aqua interior, original aqua GM floor mats, original 283, factory posi, and original rust.
The 16" would allow you to run a slightly lower profile tire while running the same outer diameter, so it should give you an improvement in handling as well.
Does that hubcap actually clamp on to the rally wheel?
I figure the same but I was hoping to use the rallys I already have. Does look a bit weird the way it is. These caps don't clamp on. I would have to make an adapter to use the flat part of a rally centre as the holder and these on the outside. I've done it before with a couple of other stock hubcaps adapted to the rally centres and they they look really good and sort of factory but these are larger diameters so they look kind of awkward on these wheels.
Oh well thanks for the input. I'll probably just use the Beaumont centres and it will still look pretty sharp!
You know, I've done three adaptations over the years and depending on the hubcap they were all different mountings I will try to take a picture of the ones I still have tomorrow if you're interested. it isn't real high tech however it does involve usually sacrificing a beat up set of swap meet ralley centres but it does kind of give a good look to the car. The first was a set of 1953 chevy poverty caps on a 53 Chevy, the second was on my 1939 Buick using an early eighties Buick aluminium centre and that last was the easiest, putting 1966 Grande wheel cover spinners on my 1966 Grande with rallys.
Stand by....
-- Edited by 66 Grande guy on Saturday 16th of February 2019 01:30:34 AM
Very interested,i have the beat up rally centers and removed the pitted piece from the cap,i have a set of Pontiac dog dish and a set of 55 chevy dog dish to attach. I was thinking to try construction adhesive ???
I went trudging through the snow to try to find pics of all the mods to the rallys I have made. (needed a walk anyway) Here are some pics of the details of the different types.
You'll note that the 66 Grande spinners were an almost perfect fit and took a grande (heh) total of three holes and about 10 minutes each to do.
The Buick ones, because they attached with clips into the original aluminium wheel involved cutting slots into the ralleys and inserting the clips and then sort of bending them so they wouldn't come out. I did this back in 1987 so I might have done a slicker job today with my better tools
The 53 Chev wheel I couldn't find as I sold the car years ago but I took another old cap I had and just placed it on the wheel to show what they looked like.
The back shot shows that I had to hack up the hubcap to make tabs that I screwed into the rally centre. (Its a 39 buick cap that I had to modify to mount on a chev wheel for when I was in a low budget movie with the Buick years ago but the principle is the same.) It also implies that you will have to cut up the hubcap which, back in 87, was no big deal. Today, you may want to think about that more.)
A few observations:
Hubcaps prior to 55 or so (Chev anyway) tended to be smaller than post 55 due to the change from internal clip mounting to the more modern external rim knobs. I would say that any hubcap after 55 (depending on the design) is going to look a bit too big in a 15 inch ralley as do my Beaumont ones.
Also I wouldn't use adhesive as I have never had much luck with any adhesive staying put as well as a good old screw. You also have to consider that the wheels are subject to all the unsuspended road shocks that wheels have to deal with so however you mount it has to be proof against that.
Your choice though. I hope this helps.
-- Edited by 66 Grande guy on Saturday 16th of February 2019 02:56:33 PM
-- Edited by 66 Grande guy on Saturday 16th of February 2019 02:57:23 PM
