68 SS Hubcaps

[68rsssrag]

Can anyone tell me the correct paint triom details for the full SS hubcaps used on 68 SS cars. These are the 14 inch 3-vane raised potmetal hub on stainless disc style. They have a plastic emblem black/silver with red SS.

 I have a collection from NOS GM, swap meets and ebay and there are 3 variants;

1. only single inner ring painted black
2. both inner and outer ring painted black
3. only single inner ring painted argent silver

I think #1 is correct but #2 was a NOS piece I bought new in 1983 from my dealer so go figure. Silver was Impala I think.

Arno

[68rsssrag]

Here is a pic.

Arno

[68rsssrag]

An old timer hubcap guy just confirmed that the black is Camaro but he couldn't remember if they had 1 or 2 black bands like the pic on the last post.

Any input from folks with this option? Seems few were ordered and fewer survive.

Cheers

Arno

[Steve68]

Arno

I'm the original owner of my car.  It is a 68 L78 SS/RS with the Custom Interor package (unrestored/original).  The hup caps that came on the car (and still on it)were your #3.  While I am not in a position to say that no other Camaro ever had a different cap with this combination package, I have seen at least one other car with the same ones as mine.  I vividly remember this other car because it was in the show room (sold) when I was ordering my car and it was almost exactly like what I was going to order and I could hardly take my eyes off of it......anyway, it had the same caps as mine.

Steve

[68rsssrag]

Hi Steve

A local Camaro club member pointed me at the 68 sales brochures, both large and small versions. They show a single black rim. So now we have 1 vote for each.

I'm wondering if this was a LOS vs. NOR or a late vs. early 68 variation?

Arno

[Steve68]

Interesting.  Mine is an early June Nor car and I assume the show room car was as well (Nor I mean) with its build date somewhere (best guess  ) around a month before the end of the second week of May in 68 (when I ordered my car).  I wonder, is the brochure an early version for the 68 year?

Steve

[Pex68]

Arno,
Looked at my "1968 Chrvrolet Car Selector" (big silver dealer book) and first pic shows a red RS/SS 396 with the inner only hubcaps.  Unfortunatly it's the only picture in the book with this style hubcap.  Looked in my Mitchell part number service book Copyright 1974 and it shows the following;
Cover, full disc
67-3888699
68-69 - 3925886
350-396/67-69 - 3871174
I know this is conflicting info because the pic posted above shows part number 3871174 and has the double black but the pic in the dealer book is a 396 car with the single black .....I know that doesen't help any but it's all I got right now!!!
Good luck.

[68rsssrag]

Chris

You are getting my confusuion. All the photos show 1 black ring but GM part in box has 2. I have got used versions of both on the shelf now so they do exist....plus the argent silver ones!!!

I'm getting to believe that the photos were very early production or prototype and was with 1 ring....still doesn't explain why I have a few dual ring versions unless they are from another car.

Maybe JohnZ can comment on whether brochure photos were usually of final design or things shifted.

Arno

[JohnZ]

Brochure photos were taken well ahead of production launch, and used all manner of cars - shined-up prototypes and development cars, Pilot cars, auto show cars, and anything that was available at the time, and many of the photos were airbrushed/modified (or not) to represent what was thought at the time to be the production configuration, which frequently changed. I wouldn't put a lot of faith in early brochure photos as an indicator of what was actually built later.

[Steve68]

Arno

It doesn't, unfortunately, look like your going to get much more on this.  John has pretty much put the brochure thing to rest.  All I can tell you is that being the original owner of a 68 SS that came with, and still on it, the wheel covers (we have been calling them hub caps but....) are as you described in your #3: only single inner ring painted argent silver.  Besides, how much better it can get than an original owner with original equipment providing you with info ..... no relying on memory or what a previous owner says was on the car when they bought it.  If your still in doubt for some reason and you can think of something that I can look at on the covers or whatever then let me know and I'll have a try at it for you.

Steve

[68rsssrag]

Steve

I think John is correct on not trusting the PR guys but the silver seems incorrect based on all the other input. I spoke to Bill Ball at GM Canada and he collects cars as well. His input was that wheelcovers got swapped often at the dealers since they were shipped "loose".

I just found an original photo of my car when new. The ring(s) are black on the pic, but hard to say if there are 1 or 2.

Arno

[Steve68]

Arno

I picked my car up at the dealer and it has never been out of my hands since and it has had the #3 covers on it from day one.  The silver can't be incorrect as they did come on my new car........Why would dealers swap them anyway?  Something doesn't ring right there with Mr Ball if you think about it.  They are going to put them in the trunk or car at the plant and there is not going to be that much of a chance at the dealership (small & low volume in my case at the time) for a set of SS covers to be put on some other car.

Steve

[68rsssrag]

I tend to agree with you, I can't see an Impala cover on a Camaro unless you had both cars on the lot etc. Bill is saying what got shipped loose didn't always get to the car. This is true if you have worked at a dealership you know amazing stuff happens.

I have another thought. The PN 3871174 on the box and shown in the GM 70's parts books is noted as full wheel cover RS/SS which is the car I have. These are black ring. The circa 1969 polaroids also show a black ring not argent and these pics don't lie as they are as old as my car.

Could it be that RS/SS cars got a "black out" on the rockers and tailpanel and to match this they also got a black accent wheelcover??  Other non-RS/SS cars, eg an SS without RS would not have had the blackout and perpaps used the silver accent covers?

Arno

[Steve68]

Keeping what John said in mind, if you look in the parts book you will notice that the covers change appearance but have the same part number for different years.  For instance, the 1965 Chevy II cover has the same number as the 68-69 Camaro cover.  We stated the thread with 68 covers being the topic and that is what is on my car.  I can't really speak to what other years may look like with any certainty though beyond what is in the parts book and it is really hard to tell what one is looking at (again keeping in mind what John has said).  By that I mean, the page is white but given the shape and the voids in the cover and looking at it on the page I see black areas on the wheel cover.  I know for instance, from real world observation that an area is "open" on a particular cover but it "appears" in the picture as black. Is it really black (painted) or is it the artist trying to show the opening.  Tell you what Arno.....I am going to go and pull one of the covers from my car and see if I can find any numbers.  Will let you know what I find if anything.

[Steve68]

Can't find any numbers on a quick look at the back side.  Does anyone have any idea if there are numbers on wheel covers to start with and if so where?