Charlie Kolb Camaro

[Steve Holmes]

I stumbled upon a photo of the Charlie Kolb Miami Speedway Park/Hurst Shifter Camaro at Sebring 1967, and was interested to note it was fitted with knock-off wheels. The image was only very small (it was on Racing Sports Cars as pictured) so it was hard to see what brand they were:  http://www.racingsportscars.com/photo/Sebring-1967-04-01t.html

I was wondering if anyone has any larger format photos of the car with these wheels, or knows what type of wheels they were?

In all other photos I've seen of this Camaro it was fitted with steel (Corvette?) wheels.

[Jon Mello]

Steve, I believe those are fake knock-offs that attach to the center cap flange area. You are correct that this car ran with stock rally wheels at its other races.

[cook_dw]

Was that a Z or an early SS 350 car?

[Jon Mello]

I don't know what it started out as but it seems to have had 14" mag wheels on it at its first race (Sebring).

The photo below shows that lug nuts are visible with the knock-off cap.

[Steve Holmes]

Thanks Jon, brilliant images! Those wheels on that car sure do look cool. I did wonder when I first saw them if they might be Ansen wheels like these:

[Jon Mello]

Steve, the spinner on Kolb's car looks very similar to the ones on the Ansen wheels. Even the spokes themselves on Kolb's car look like the Ansens. Thanks for posting those neat photos. I do recall seeing a set of those a long time ago but I had completely forgotten about them.

[Steve Holmes]

Thanks Jon. From what little info I have gathered on these wheels (I believe they were called Ansen Apollo), they are quite rare, having only been produced for a short period of time. One forum I visited said only 120 sets were made, but I don't know how correct this is.

Why do you think they would have fit these wheels to the Camaro for this event, then reverted to the rally wheels? From my online searching, the widest set I have seen has only been 6" wide, so maybe I just answered my own question.

[Jon Mello]

Steve, if they are truly Ansen Apollo wheels and are true knock-offs then I would assume they were fitted to the car to make speedier tire changes, if necessary. I don't think true knock-offs were allowed but I'll have to have a look at the GCR rule book. They may have let them slide for this particular race.

There are currently some 15x6 Ansen Apollo wheels for sale on ebay... http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ansen-Apollo-vintage-wheels-4-with-knock-offs-/221905380461?hash=item33aa97646d

[Steve Holmes]

Thanks Jon, I'm sure you're right.

Nice set there on Ebay, and from what I've seen of the sets that have sold in recent years, those are a bargain!

[Jon Mello]

The price of $1500 does actually seem fair for what they are.