Today I hit the jackpot.
Having blasted, prepared and painted my (Rader?) two piece wheels, the
subject of my last post, I took my 1600 to my local garage for it's annual
MOT, (a 12m check required by UK law to ensure a car is roadworthy). Whilst
there I started talking to the owner, Andy, about the best lacquer to use on
the wheels - when he looked at the steel/alloy combination he got into 'what
make' etc etc, and then he said 'I've got some American alloys upstairs,
they're getting in the way, do you want to have a look at them?' Only half
interested I went upstairs - inbetween stripped down Porsche and Alfa engines
was a pile of wheels under an MGA hood and windscreen - (1st coincidence)
lifting the hood and glass I was amazed to find a set of alloys which I'd
been looking for since I first got Dann's Rallye catalog. These alloys are a
four spoke affair with 'US Trans AM' stamped on the inner rim- size 14' x
5.5' - they're listed in Dann's catalog as 'LIBRES' . I have never seen
another set in the UK, (we only had Minilite, Cosmic and Wolfrace in the UK
in the 60s/70s - few imports).
A pic of a similar wheel can be seen on URL:-
http://www.datsun.org/fairady/autocross.jpg
Andy said he just wanted rid of them - Not yet knowing if the stud pattern
was correct, (although it looked pretty close) I bid him on the 16 wheel lugs
- he gave me the wheels for nothing. Nice one. He also gave me a Theil
Motors, Modesto, Datsun license frame - anyone heard of them?
Back home I tried one wheel for size. (2nd coincidence) It only fitted! Just
need tyres and then I'll fit the other 3 - And the Rader wheels?? To be
sacked in the back of the garage for the next project.
Two Questions - 1) how rare are these wheels and 2) does anyone have any
centre(er) caps. If not, (3rd coincidence) I have some 280ZX caps that fit -
shaving the Z and replacing it with a Datsun badge would work well - still
interested if there are any original caps out there and what they should look
like.
Thanks.
Rob
<A HREF="http://www.datsun.org/fairlady/";>The Classic Fairlady Roadster
Register</A>
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