Modern alloys on classic cars: your take?

[4rephill]

exitwound said:

Never been a Mini fan even though it was my mates' car of choice in the '70's, but I do like that and now I'm feeling like I want one like that too!!

I know what you mean! - It kind of gets you curious as to how much like a go-cart it must be doesn't it?

With the right tyres on, on a bone dry twisty road, that must grip like a limpet!

[Russwhitehouse]

aeropilot said:

Yertis said:

shakotan said:

Saw this poor thing at Auto Italia on Saturday - some people shouldn't be allowed nice things!

IMAG0433 by ???, on Flickr

Maybe the originals are away being restored...

or maybe they're kept 'for best' and these are just for driving around on...

I applaud you for giving the 'owner' the benefit of the doubt, but we all know it's unlikely to be either of those two reasons

The owner should be horse whipped in public and condemned to several days in the stocks for such an offence!

[RichB]

shakotan said:

Saw this poor thing at Auto Italia on Saturday - some people shouldn't be allowed nice things!

IMAG0433 by ???, on Flickr

It's hardly the most offensive to the eye on here. I think a lot of you are getting hot under the collar because it's a prancing donkey (I know it's not actually a Ferrari) but I must say the wheels go well with the trim and the contrasting gold cills.

[wildcat45]

HaylingJag said:

bought with these on,,,,,

I know the pepperpots are wrong for a Series II but to be honest at first glance I didn't notice. Therefore from my point of view they look fine. They are after all OEM.

However.

If it was mine I'd either go for the original steel wheels or GIN "Kent" alloys.

My rule with mods is based on the premise that the first owner could have specified it when it was new.

But really, those pepperpots hardly look horrible do they?

[exitwound]

4rephill said:

exitwound said:

Never been a Mini fan even though it was my mates' car of choice in the '70's, but I do like that and now I'm feeling like I want one like that too!!

I know what you mean! - It kind of gets you curious as to how much like a go-cart it must be doesn't it?

With the right tyres on, on a bone dry twisty road, that must grip like a limpet!

They do grip, even stock.. In the '70's we would hire one in the Isle of Man, and after leaving Laxey for Ramsey, we would turn off the engine at the top of the hill and coast for miles all the way into the Beach Hotel carpark! It was fun and I do prefer bigger cars, however, ..I would like to have a thrash in that one..

My mate's old purple Cooper S was terrifying to me as a passenger. It was lowered, decambered, deseamed, and had these nice moulded wheelarches with spaced out 6"x10" Cosmic alloys. He was 6'4" and had the drivers seat hard up against the rear seat. The sensation of speed on the 'B' roads was something else.

[shakotan]

RichB said:

shakotan said:

Saw this poor thing at Auto Italia on Saturday - some people shouldn't be allowed nice things!

IMAG0433 by ???, on Flickr

It's hardly the most offensive to the eye on here. I think a lot of you are getting hot under the collar because it's a prancing donkey (I know it's not actually a Ferrari) but I must say the wheels go well with the trim and the contrasting gold cills.

The sills aren't gold, they're the same colour as the rest of the body.

[boyse7en]

exitwound said:

They do grip, even stock.. In the '70's we would hire one in the Isle of Man, and after leaving Laxey for Ramsey, we would turn off the engine at the top of the hill and coast for miles all the way into the Beach Hotel carpark! It was fun and I do prefer bigger cars, however, ..I would like to have a thrash in that one..

My mate's old purple Cooper S was terrifying to me as a passenger. It was lowered, decambered, deseamed, and had these nice moulded wheelarches with spaced out 6"x10" Cosmic alloys. He was 6'4" and had the drivers seat hard up against the rear seat. The sensation of speed on the 'B' roads was something else.

I do miss my 1380cc Mini bouncing around on its adjustable suspension. In hindsight it wasn't that quick (about 90hp) but you barely slowed for corners, so it was actually quite nippy point-to-point. It was also deafeningly loud, unbearably hot, cramped and the most fun I've ever had in a car.

[2172cc]

These ones just don't work on a Sunbeam, although great on an Integrale/ Escort Cosworth/ Nova etc

[thegreenhell]

Russwhitehouse said:

aeropilot said:

Yertis said:

shakotan said:

Saw this poor thing at Auto Italia on Saturday - some people shouldn't be allowed nice things!

IMAG0433 by ???, on Flickr

Maybe the originals are away being restored...

or maybe they're kept 'for best' and these are just for driving around on...

I applaud you for giving the 'owner' the benefit of the doubt, but we all know it's unlikely to be either of those two reasons

The owner should be horse whipped in public and condemned to several days in the stocks for such an offence!

Is that even a real Dino? The brakes look very big and modern, as well as the wheels. There was a bitsa that I saw around a while back that was a modified 308 chassis with a 360 engine and gearbox under a Dino body, but I don't know if it's this car.

[67Dino]

I think the rule for good aesthetics* on alloys is probably the same as for an extension on a house: don't fudge it - either keep it totally in period, or make a clear contrast. So 1930s mock tudor on a 1970s house doesn't work, and glass and steel on a 1750s cottage does.

In terms of being "in period", I think you can get away with the alloys from a close gen either side, but not much further.
e.g. my old 997 C2S Gen 1 came with the rather unsporty multi-spoke alloys. So put on 997 Gen 2 alloys, and think it worked ok.

• Of course, I fully recognise 'beauty is in the eye of the beholder'. Any rules just tell you what to do if you want beauty in the eye of others too.

[RichB]

shakotan said:

RichB said:

shakotan said:

Saw this poor thing at Auto Italia on Saturday - some people shouldn't be allowed nice things!

IMAG0433 by ???, on Flickr

It's hardly the most offensive to the eye on here. I think a lot of you are getting hot under the collar because it's a prancing donkey (I know it's not actually a Ferrari) but I must say the wheels go well with the trim and the contrasting gold cills.

The sills aren't gold, they're the same colour as the rest of the body.

Shame, they'd really make the car stand out in gold.

[thegreenhell]

Found another shot of the same car

[RichB]

More to the point is that bogie/sled that the jet Provost is sitting on the right colour? Surely in the early '60s it would have been RAF grey not red? Why do people do this?

[LotusOmega375D]

That's not a Jet Provost, maybe a F86 Sabre?

Anyway, back on topic. I notice that a few 1980s sporty classic owners justify switching to modern alloys because their cars originally came with metric TRX wheels. I find this a bit of a cop-out. I know the tyres are very expensive from Michelin, but if people don't buy them, they'll stop making them.

Most classics do fairly low annual mileages, so tyre costs averaged over the years tend to be pretty minimal. Indeed when you come to sell, you'll probably more than recoup the extra Michelin TRX outlay anyway, due to the general preference in the marketplace for originality.

[aeropilot]

2172cc said:

These ones just don't work on a Sunbeam, although great on an Integrale/ Escort Cosworth/ Nova etc

What on earth was the owner thinking putting them on FFS





[especially given the Avon's are 'taste challenged' to begin with ]

[aeropilot]

RichB said:

More to the point is that bogie/sled that the jet Provost is sitting on the right colour? Surely in the early '60s it would have been RAF grey not red? Why do people do this?

What Jet Provost?

[it's the fuselage of a Supermarine Swift ]

[ChasW]

67Dino said:

I think the rule for good aesthetics* on alloys is probably the same as for an extension on a house: don't fudge it - either keep it totally in period, or make a clear contrast. So 1930s mock tudor on a 1970s house doesn't work, and glass and steel on a 1750s cottage does.

In terms of being "in period", I think you can get away with the alloys from a close gen either side, but not much further.
e.g. my old 997 C2S Gen 1 came with the rather unsporty multi-spoke alloys. So put on 997 Gen 2 alloys, and think it worked ok.

• Of course, I fully recognise 'beauty is in the eye of the beholder'. Any rules just tell you what to do if you want beauty in the eye of others too.

I'd say that works quite well. I am not a 911 expert but I would have guessed they might not have been original but nonetheless in keeping.

[FIREBIRDC9]

RichB said:

ZX10R NIN said:

irocfan said:

I guess it depends on the application - these look pretty much perfect to me...

They're spot on & look much better than the originals, I do like the pro touring look.

Really? I don't know what the originals looked like so my comment is in that respect perfectly neutral but that red car looks like it's "slammed and banged" or whatever the expression is

I don't agree , The originals look miles better

The 1973 Trans Am is my dream car , Honeycomb wheels were available optional from the factory , albeit smaller.

I don't like skinny tyres , you need smaller rims with BF/Goodrich tyres with White lettering for the proper Muscle car look.

Nothing wrong with tyres that actually have a decent amount of rubber. Low profile is overrated in my opinion.

[67Dino]

ChasW said:

I'd say that works quite well. I am not a 911 expert but I would have guessed they might not have been original but nonetheless in keeping.

Thanks ChasW. Interesting they looked non-original though, which I suspected. Personally, if I'd had the choice would have gone for the Gen 1 alternative (which I do like) to avoid even the hint of looking 'pimped'. But I'm a bit of an 'as it left the showroom' bore like that...

[Spottedlaurel]

A couple I've seen:

[url=https://flic.kr/p/aNub3g]
1973 Triumph GT6[/url] by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

[url=https://flic.kr/p/nVF2x2]
1976 Sunbeam Rapier[/url] by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

Technically I suppose these are modern wheels on this one, as I think they were fitted to the Jensen after the Cresta was new, but I reckon they look great here:

[url=https://flic.kr/p/f9p5wn]
1964 Vauxhall Cresta Estate[/url] by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr