ok you have proded me into this here. there are 2 types of early riveted
rims with the vent holes in them. yup 2 types. it apears that in 58
austin healey was enjoying structural failure with their first design rims
breaking around the wheel lug holes. they can be identified by the length
of the raised reinforcement ribs between the lug holes. the later rims
while still riveted had longer reinforcement ribs to deter the flexing on
corners wich was found to be causing the failures. then(dont know year/
month) the welded rims came about thanks to the wonderfull world of mass
production. the process was also practiced chevrolet in 1955. riveted rims
were too fragile for the sedans(reguardless of model or # of doors) . in
early '55 chevy droped the riveted rims on all models except for corvette.
corvette used riveted rims through '57. they solved the surplus rim
situation by delegating them to their light weight sports car wich exerted
less stress during cornering. with little to no failure recorded. austin
healey was not alone in these teething problems. i am positive other
manufacturers experienced this but i am not up on the history of evrything
under the sun.
appx. measurements:
early riveted rim reinf. rib between lug holes 1/2"
late riveted rim reinf. rib between lug holes 1"
2 of each of these rims are on a customer's 1957 jabro mk1 sitting in my
shop.
chuck.
btw, i also have a set of the old cheater rims from the early 60's corvair
rims reversed with sprite centers, with redrilled valve stem holes(so they
are on the outside again).corvairs were 13"x5" back then. and just for
giggles corvair was a 1 year rim in first year of production due to it being
riveted also. second year of production saw the advent of welded rims for
corvair..................C.
|