Correct Wheels and Tires For '67

[SNAKEBIT]

Hello. I was wondering about what were the correct wheel and tire options for the Shelbys for '67? I saw a vid on YouTube of some guy taking the viewer through at red and white '67 Shelby that he said has the correct 10-spoke wheels on it. I am somewhat sure that only the '68s had the 10-spokes.

[JD]

'67' Shelby's had 3 wheel types available, all 15 inch - 1 inch more than any Mustang:
1. steel wheels with '67 Thunderbird wheel covers and a Shelby stamped aluminum center emblem  (standard)
2. Mag Stars (option 1)
3. cast aluminum 10-spokes (option 2) 

also, some '66 Shelby's had 14 inch cast aluminum 10-spokes

the only '68's to get the 15 inch 10-spokes were some of the Export cars, no '68's got 15 inch 10-spokes from the factory for domestic delivery - they all got 15 inch steel wheels with '68 style wheel covers - most got replaced by owners with a later version of the 15 inch 10-spokes made to fit the brakes on the front of the '68's.

[Coralsnake]

What? Whoa, we need to educate someone...1968s did not get 10 spokes

99.6 % got wheel covers

[JD]

Pete see reply 1, cliff notes, many details to be filled-in.

(I'm sure you can add more specifics especially on the '68's aspects)

[roddster]

  For future reference:  If you try 67 10 spokes on a 68, they might or do rub the calipers.

[honker]

Here's a photo of ten spokes on a GT350 back in the day, I took this photo at Sud Automobile in Montreal, in June or July '67. Coralsnake had posted this plus some others for me on the old forum before I figured it out, (thanks again !)

Mike

[Coralsnake]

Ok on 67s, but redesigned brake calipers dont work with 10 spokes.

[shelbydoug]

Ok on 67s, but redesigned brake calipers dont work with 10 spokes.

Well, that's mostly true. The real culprit with the 68-69 brake calipers is the casting flash on the caliper and the thickness of the brand new production brake pads.

Since fitting the early '67 type (to a '68) without the cast in spacer required polishing down the outside of the caliper itself for clearance, that was a no-go as far as Ford was concerned.

The clearances are so tight that it likely would have varied from car to car and no one wanted to get involved in that.

IN ADDITION, when you go to the '68 type with the cast in spacer, it makes the tire to fender clearances even more of a problem, particularly on the GT500's which sit just a tick lower in the front then the 350's do.

When I had the copies of the original invoices, there were 5 cars invoiced with them. Two went to Japan and three to Spain. No domestic cars.

No one ever explained exactly what the combination of what was done to those cars was OR who did it. Likely it was given to an outside vendor because for sure it wouldn't have been done at Metuchen. I doubt they ever even knew what that wheel looked like.

IF they were done by Smith, then that would mean someone had to dismount the production Goodyears and remount them on the 10 spokes.

Having personally done this with both types of wheels on a 68 GT350, I'd speculate that it was Smith that sent someone out in the holding yard with a disc grinder and had them fit the calipers to the wheels. That's the simplest thing to do to avoid having to roll the front fenders and possibly bend up the wheel well trim as well.

I'd say that after doing those 5 cars Smith just would have said, "screw this, not available". Of course that was with 1,900 invoices missing so unless Marti did a curteousy print out of all '68 Shelbys just for SAAC, then it is possible there were more then 5 cars invoiced with them?

Ask Vincent. He was trying to make a deal with Kevin for a complete '68 print out. He was looking for W cars too.

Marti eventually conceded no W's for "68 Mustangs. That has Vinman's fingerprints all over it.

[Bob Gaines]

Part of the solution on the wheels fitting the single piston 68 caliper was to machine the rough casting of the inside rim of the wheel . That gave the needed clearance for the wheels to fit without having to add rim offset or a spacer which would cause possible clearance issues with the fender as Doug mentioned.That rough cast inside rim is also a quick way to tell if a genuine assemblyline tenspoke vs a later version. The inside rim will be rough cast on the assemblyline wheel besides all of the other outside face differences.If the backside is machined it is not a assemblyline wheel no matter how close in detail the outside looks.

[shelbydoug]

Part of the solution on the wheels fitting the single piston 68 caliper was to machine the rough casting of the inside rim of the wheel . That gave the needed clearance for the wheels to fit without having to add rim offset or a spacer which would cause possible clearance issues with the fender as Doug mentioned.That rough cast inside rim is also a quick way to tell if a genuine assemblyline tenspoke vs a later version. The inside rim will be rough cast on the assemblyline wheel besides all of the other outside face differences.If the backside is machined it is not a assemblyline wheel no matter how close in detail the outside looks.

Yes, the original casting is somewhat of a "dumb-dumb" casting in that there is a huge hump on one side of the wheel. To me, there was always a question of if it could be machined safely on the inner side because of material thickness.

I do have a set of the current reproductions as well and agreed that the major difference is they are machined on the inner surface of the wheel where the originals are not.

Even so, when I did my "Big Lincoln" T/A brake project, I used current repros in front and there still was contact in the same area of the wheel and after spacing the caliper and rotor inboards as much as possible. A 1/8" spacer was still necessary.

It's ironic though that both wheels, original and reproduction, require the same amount of balance weight and in the same spot...with or without a "hump"! 


Incidentally, who's to say that those exported Shelby's didn't have the wheel machined on the inside to fix the issue? That "fix" thought has occurred to more then one person.

[SNAKEBIT]

That's interesting. I see so many '68's with the 10-spokes on them. I thought they were a '68-only wheel. So the majority of the '68 Shelbys were sold with wheel covers? Really?

[1690]

That's interesting. I see so many '68's with the 10-spokes on them. I thought they were a '68-only wheel. So the majority of the '68 Shelbys were sold with wheel covers? Really?

That's true. All of them had wheel cover. Only the very few mentioned had the 10-spoke.

The 10-Spoke variation you are thinking of is a '67 wheel, which one one of the three choices available.

[SNAKEBIT]

Has anyone explained why a teenie percentage of '68 Shelbys were ordered/sold with the 10-spoke wheels? Most of the '67 Shelbys I see have the Mag-Star type. Is the Mag-Star the fancy wheel covers you could buy back then or are they they ones I've seen made from aluminum or steel?

[Bob Gaines]

Has anyone explained why a teenie percentage of '68 Shelbys were ordered/sold with the 10-spoke wheels? Most of the '67 Shelbys I see have the Mag-Star type. Is the Mag-Star the fancy wheel covers you could buy back then or are they they ones I've seen made from aluminum or steel?

The problem was discovered that the 67 tenspokes would not clear the new for 68 single piston caliper. That is why so few were equipped. Those few were shipped out of the country most likely for liability reasons. Three wheels available for 67 Shelby. Magstar , Tenspoke and steel wheels with special hubcap which was the base wheel. All were 15 inch. The non hubcap wheels were referred to as "Deluxe " wheels.

[lawrence67]

It is my understanding that early "Deluxe wheel"  option cars received Mag-Star wheels and later production got the 10 spokes.  Is there a date or s/n time range for the transition from one to the other?  I believe this was discussed  and the information was on Forum v1.0 but my memory doesn't go that far back.
PL