Wheels used on Trans-Am Camaros

[69Z28-RS]

they are 15x8 for Chevy pattern.  No, not for sale at this time  (i've been offered a new set of AL Minilites for them, which was probably a fair offer, but decided I should hold onto them).   I would sell the 5 spokes (one of which has a cracked spoke) for a fair offer.

[69Z28-RS]

Hopefully I've successfully posted images of the front and back of the TA70 six spokes AR wheels below...



[imghttp://i397.photobucket.com/albums/pp60/gdwylie/Wheels/6-spokewidth.jpg][/img]

[69Z28-RS]

Shown here are the width of the 15x8 Camaro pattern six spokes.. and the TA70 ad from 1970 (AMerican RAcing Ad)..

[69Z28-RS]

And here is a period photo of the Univ of Pittsburgh car running the TA70's,


and a photo of them on the restored car (taken a couple of years ago).

[69Z28-RS]

These are photos of one of the 5-spoke AR magnesium wheels I have (this is the one with the crack in one of the spokes).   These are 15x8" also, Chevy pattern, with 4-3/4" backspace.

[69Z28-RS]

Bob Christiansen's personal mark (R.A.C.E.) is stamped into each of these wheels, and they were ran in TransAm and IMSA FT racing in the late sixties and early-mid 70's.. by him.

Gary

[kgu]

I have a 200s wheel on my garage wall and it serves me well  -  for the garden hose
                                                                                                                 Ken

[69Z28-RS]

The five spoke AR wheels I have are not the 200S design I don't think, but I'm not sure what the exact model was called...

[Jon Mello]

Thanks for posting your pictures. Those 5-spokes are not the 200-S design. They are a magnesium Torq-Thrust "D", not to be confused with what American currently sells as an aluminum Torq-Thrust "D" or Torq-Thrust II. I have not seen the 4 3/4" backspacing like that before. They have an offset that makes them look like a 15x7 from the front side. Do you have any photos of Christiansen's car with the mags on it (either set)?

[klvn8r]

One of my TA-70s that goes on my Javelin.....originally a GM pattern wheel, but "opened up" in the mid 80s to fit the smaller Ford patter.  Sitting beside it one of the Racemark seats removed from Buzz Dyer's mid 70s AMC T/A cars, a Concord.

klvn8r

[Shadow Ahead]

Like these

Hello all. I'm new here and a TA and SCCA racer fan. I thought that photo looked familiar. i took it in September 2007 at Coronado.

S A

[Shadow Ahead]

This isn't the full pic I took back at the time but it is the one I have in my account shrunk down to specifically show the outlines of the original 4 lug system. In between the two bottom lugs you can see a complete slug filling the original lug hole.
S A

[Jon Mello]

Are you sure those are slugs filling holes that used to be there? Below is a photo of a Minilite wheel used on one
of the Penske cars in '69. The photo was taken at Mid-Ohio in 1969. You can see the circular casting lines of a
4-bolt pattern besides the 5-bolt holes that have actually been drilled out. I wonder if the circular lines you see
in your photo are simply casting lines which are part of the mold for the wheel. Because the Minilites are 8-spoke
wheels, a 4-bolt pattern lends itself more readily to the design but, of course, the American pony cars were all
5-bolt pattern (in stock configuration). I'm not sure how AMC was able to get away with running a 4-bolt hub
and wheel as they were not stock that way. Since they were able to do it, I don't see why the others couldn't.
Since you are an AMC enthusiast, can you shed some light on that?


Photo by Ron Lathrop

[Shadow Ahead]

 First reason I concluded those 4 spots are filled is 1)http://www.greenwoodcorvettes.com/BFG50.html- read about the wheels as the Greenwood team got them from Penske.
Second reason is 2) the size and number of the spot circles as well as their equal displacement  which falls into the same diameter as the machined lug holes. In the photo you provided just above you'll note the diameter of the casting pads compared to the diameter of the lug holes and reliefs. The casting bunges are considerably smaller in diameter which would be indicative of a facory hole location without consideration for the type and size of lug and corresponding relief.
If you look closely at the photo of the Donohue wheel from Coronado the circles appear to be the same diameter as the five lug holes machined into the wheel. Upon closer inspection you'll also see that when the edge of the recess is nicked the edge of the circle is not erased, indicating that the circle goes deeper than the surface. A casting pick-up point would have a shallow depth that could be sanded or machined off.

  Regarding your second question I can't comment, other than my comment would only be conjecture about how P E N S K E pulled that off rather than AMC and though I have talked to Walt Czarnecki before I didn't talk about this subject and I'm not certain he'd have any knowledge about this as he had moved on from AMC by this time and would have been in charge of pr and sales at Penske.

S A
   

[Shadow Ahead]

Couple things I can  point out. Here's acolorized photo of the wheels in 4 lug configuration:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/smuckatelli/2942498572/ .
 KLVN8R on here has mentioned earlier an interesting point from memory: that the '70 SCCA rules were as written in the beginning of the season open on hubs. The rules printed here for '70 Camaros would be representative and are easy to check.

S A