Bob,
In the early '60s in Memphis, TN, I had a '57 TR3 with 48 spoke
original wire wheels. I drove this car from Memphis to Los Angeles
and back, plus competed very sucessfully in numerous rallies,
gymkhanas, autocrosses, and also drove it in an SCCA driver's school.
Many of the speed events were on horibly rough WW 2 airstrips and many
of the rallies were on rough gravel surfaced country roads.
When I bought the car the spare wheel had several broken spokes, I
replaced the broken spokes myself and luckily never had to run on that
wheel. During my trip to the west coast, I had the spare wheel
rebuilt (for something like $30.00!!!) at a wire wheel rebuilder
somplace in Orange County (I have no idea what the name of the company
was). Over the next several months after returning to Memphis, I
sent the other four wheels by UPS to be rebuilt by the Orange County
company. It was on rebuilt wheels that I did most of the competition
driving over the next two or three years.
When I sold the car all 5 of the wheels were still tight and in tune.
My $2.00 worth or maybe only 2 cents!
Jim Bauder
Palo Alto, CA
'58 TR3 in boxes
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