68 SS Hubcaps

[68rsssrag]

I think you got it correct and that is what Bill Ball was saying when he said loose parts got lost at dealerships.

Could be that what we have here is a situation where the GM NOS parts out of the box NOS 1980's) and the photos and PR material are correct. If you ordered P01 you got black from the factory and if you ordered post delivery at the dealer you got the Argent Silver which was in the parts book of the time as a 64 Impala hubcap.


Seems to fit.

Arno

[Steve68]

Only problem Arno is that I ordered wheel covers (P01) and have Argent Silver on my car.  In my case I didn't order anything "post delivery" from the dealer so I don't think that explains it.

[68rsssrag]

Steve

Have you seen anything published that shows Argent hubcaps on a 68 Camaro?

Arno

[mr396]

Here is a nos set I found on ebay # 3871174, it looks like the painted inner and outer ring.                                                                                                                               http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/nos-1965-nova-ss-1967-1968-camaro-ss-wheel-covers-set_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ33744QQitemZ8046530799QQrdZ1                                                                               

[Steve68]

Note they are 65 Nova covers.  The part number has been used for more than one year and that may be why we are seeing different covers for different years on different vehicles.  At this point I suspect that the paint scheme changed for the year and the vehicle it was going to be used for in that particular year.

Steve

[Steve68]

Since the last post I have continued to try and find information regarding the wheel covers.  Attached are two pictures.  One is from an original 68 P&A (thanks Ed!) and the other is from my car.  I ordered my car new and picked it up personally at the dealership upon delivery from GM.  It was SOP to ship the wheel covers in the trunk.  The SS wheel covers on my car have been on it since the day I picked it up from the dealership.  The order sheet shows P01 (SS wheel covers).  Since the P&A image uses black ink only, there was no way to depict an inter argent ring in the P&A picture.  Obviously, a black ring could have been drawn in to represent one if it existed on the actual cover.

Steve

[Rich]

I believe all you say Steve.  Argent caps were installed on your car at the dealer when it was new.  The question is, was that normative for 68 Camaro at that point in time?  Dunno.  I believe most people believe - with photo evidence to support it - that for most of the year the black ring version was normative.  I'm not going to rule out a late year change (as you are suggesting regarding your grille), but there are enough other possibilities that a lot more research would be required.

Not fully related, but as example of how confusing it can get, I just re-looked at "Chevy's Classy Chassis", a photo essay of nominally original S. Cal cars published in 1981.  So at the time the photos were taken the cars were no more than 13 years old (probably several years younger) and most with the original owners.  The principle 68 SS/396 they document has the non-SS P01 wheel covers on it.  Definitely non-normative.  An after delivery add-on, or a dealer mistake?  Who knows.  Car belonged to an Ed Boortz of El Cajon Cal, if anyone still knows his whereabouts (he's not in our db).

Rich

[Steve68]

Rich

What's your take on the lack of a black ring in the P&A image?  Would you place any value in it (P&A image) at all then?  Thanks for your insight 

Steve

[Rich]

Same pic as in other manuals.  It being predominately line-art, I'm not swayed one way or the other by it.  It's function was to allow a part man to distinguish one cover from another to ensure he had the right cover from the selection on the shelf, and typically those level of details were omitted.

But I could use it to construct an argument that the dealer grabbed the argent covers to match the picture, thus putting the wrong covers on the car.

I'm not insisting these aren't the covers that were supplied by the factory, but if you've ever spent time around a car dealership, even a small one, there are plenty of opportunities for wheel cover swaps to be made after the car is removed from the hauler and sent to the clean-up and prep crew before customer delivery.

Rich

[Steve68]

Thanks Rich. I know you believe me  .   Not wanting to, and trying hard not to be, argumentative  I think I need to step back and see what we have at this point.  1) Historical GM pictures: JohnZ post says not that reliable (reply #8).  2) Other Historical pictures such as Hooper: ?  3) P&A images: the 68 image provided by Ed does not have a black ring for part 3871174 but the same part number listed for the 66 Chevy II, that image does.  4) Original owner with order sheet with P01 on it. 5) On the day I ordered my car there was one like it in the show room (See reply #'s 3 & 19).  I remember looking at it closely to see if there was anything that I wanted to change on my order, there wasn't but it had the argent covers too.  There would have been opportunities for the floor mats, and other "loose parts" to not have made it into the car but they did.  I'm just having a hard time drawing any other conclusion than, especially without any evidence of a swap of covers at the dealership and given the odds, the covers on my car are anything but the ones that were shipped with it.    I appreciate this site and the opportunity to participate in the discussions/research/help that takes place here. 

Steve

[bertfam]

I'm going to reopen this discussion again because I was digging through some old pictures I had and just found a picture of an original 68 RS/SS 396/350 Coupe with the full hub caps still intact. Here's a picture.

Let the discussion continue...

Ed

[Steve68]

Ed

Any idea what the build date is?

Steve

[bertfam]

Sorry Steve. I didn't get that information, but it's a later build. The stripes show it to be after January 1st. And by the way, the grille is BLACK!!! Here's another picture showing the grille, and as a bonus, a Poloroid of the engine compartment the same day the owner brought it home from the dealership!

Ed

[4speed]

And, just because I'm old and remember, this style of SS wheel cover was not used on the 1964 Impala SS but on the 1963 Impala SS. The 1964 SS cover was more of a flat design.

[Rich]

Not to reopen old wounds, but here's a picture of a 63 Impala SS cover, taken in the GM Heritage Center on 9 Aug 2007 (by Daniel).  They appear to be physically identical, just painted differently.