1969 wheel restoration

[C Griffith]

Looking for your expert opinion on colored gold or none coated spokes.

[Bob Gaines]

Looking for your expert opinion on colored gold or none coated spokes.

From the factory the wheels were coated with a clear .The side effects of the process was that sometimes the clear yellowed giving a gold appearance and or the clear would start to peel or flack off. To exaggerate the issue is that given the wheels are well over 50 years old now and during that time this yellowing process would show up on some wheels early in their life. Previous owners by mistake thought the wheels had a gold paint tint so they would refinish them that way. Several decades or more later some assume that the now gold painted wheels were original that way. I was around the 69/70 cars extensively when they were new and have seen and owned a number of NOS wheels over the years with no trace of gold . By the same token I have seen dozens of wheels that had various levels of the yellowed look and peeling etc. All of these clues gives me a high confidence level that they were not gold from the factory. 

[Bob Gaines]

Now days people do not clear the wheels. It requires occasional cleaning and polishing of the center for a uncleared wheel center but it has not been a big issue for those that have owned them . At least not as big of issue as dealing with the duller look of the clear on the polished highlights plus the peeling and discoloration under the clear.   

[Bob Gaines]

In a perfect world you would not be able to tell if they were cleared or not. With that said unless there is something else drastically wrong with the finish the cleared aspect is most typically not given a second thought in concours venues. 

[J_Speegle]

Some get carried away and put on allot of clear, which can create problems later but in the short term give the wheels or centers a "dipped in plastic" look which may catch the eye in a judged event and lead to unwanted deductions

As always make you choices wisely and anticipate the negative affect of them

[C Griffith]

Thank you for the informed comments.
That gold tone does pressure wash off as I'm sure it did in multiple car washings in the past. The wheels that I am bringing back have
been out of use for some time and all but one had changed color to gold. 
Was surprised to see a 12-67 date on the first one I cleaned up.                      Thank you again.

[Special Ed]

There is a painted finish on the inside spokes by lugnut area that we matched from my nos wheels that we are using on restored wheels taken apart and rechromed to get concours correct. The color is light goldish tinted and has paint runs under the clear..I have documented this detail along with the extra hole by 3 rivets where injected epoxy went into the center to rim area helping seal the gap and bonding together. If the clear turned gold then why no gold finish on top of the flat smooth  top spoke area peak like the lugnut hole rough cast area .

[Bob Gaines]

There is a painted finish on the inside spokes by lugnut area that we matched from my nos wheels that we are using on restored wheels taken apart and rechromed to get concours correct. The color is light goldish tinted and has paint runs under the clear..I have documented this detail along with the extra hole by 3 rivets where injected epoxy went into the center to rim area helping seal the gap and bonding together. If the clear turned gold then why no gold finish on top of the flat smooth  top spoke area peak like the lugnut hole rough cast area .

I think because the open pores of the rough cast aluminum area caused a chemical reaction because of moisture with the clear that didn't happen on the smooth metal polished area because it didn't have the open pores .

[C Griffith]

Special Ed,

This wheel has the gold tone on all front surfaces of the center section, including the smooth shinny surfaces.
Do we really know how many different ways this may have been done?