I have two 8-spoke minilight style wheels that I'd like to make into a set,
but I don't know what I'm looking for or even if it would be worth doing. I
was negotiating with a guy who had them on a Mercury
Tracer and that evening he drove the car into a wall, pancaking everything
between the bumper and the firewall (he walked away from it, thanks to the
flubberization conferred by ethyl). They don't seem to have anything as
obvious as 'Western' stamped on them (some sort of very small 4 character
alphanumeric combination as I remember). And the lug pattern is that hair
too big size, so they'd have to be unilugged.
Opinions? What have I got? Worth it to try and find two more and then
unilug all four? (they are a good looking wheel)
Chris Hill
(B9471456 or 1546 or something like that)
(B3821456 or 1546 or something like that)
-----Original Message-----
From: MWood24020@aol.com <MWood24020@aol.com>
To: deiland1@elp.rr.com <deiland1@elp.rr.com>; tigers@autox.team.net
<tigers@autox.team.net>
Date: Wednesday, December 29, 1999 9:51 PM
Subject: Re: Paint
>In a message dated 12/29/99 7:25:52 PM Pacific Standard Time,
>deiland1@elp.rr.com writes:
>
><< On the backside of my wheels the letters "C.S. I." are cast into the
> rim. I did some calling around and several people told me that my wheels
> were made by Carroll Shelby Industries (C.S.I.). The center caps say
Carroll
> Shelby on them along with the CS insignia he is well known for. I've been
> told they are rare original Shelby wheels. Even if the story I got was
just
> that, a story, it sure sounded good enough to repeat here. I hope the
people
> I talked to are right and the wheels really are original Shelby wheels
just
> for the nostalgia. If you want my 2 pesos worth, I think they are cast
> aluminum alloy. Polished center and rim with the spokes left in there
rough
> casting form. I still have no idea whether the spokes are painted or
> anodized though. >>
>
>Dan-
>They are, indeed, Shelby Industries wheels. The point I was making is that
>they are not particularly rare, were made for many applications over quite
a
>number of years (including "uni-lug") and were also popped by at least one
>other manufacturer (Western).
>I am not trying to be a jerk or a wet blanket. We all want to have cool
>period stuff for our Tigers! And, the wheels are period correct and IMHO
look
>nice on a Tiger.
>I just didn't want to see you dump a bunch of money into wheels which are
>worth not really that much in the scheme of things. Again, fine wheels as
>long as they are true and balance out OK, but not exotic or particularly
>unique.
>BTW, Shelby had no involvement with the Tiger besides engineering work and
>racing (half heartedly) a SCCA B production car for a year and a half. On
the
>other hand, maybe you have some wheels which Shelby had made for the race
>car, but I believe they ran Halibrands.
>Bottom line: If you like them, stick 'em on and then drive them out from
>underneath the car!
>Mike
>
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