Big Block Wire Wheels

[Harpoon PV2]

Pretty much every Cobra that came to the USA was on wire wheels. Other then race cars, small block and big block wore wire wheels. The first batch of big blocks, which were rushed over in such a hurry to try and Homologate them for FIA, had their mag wheels, and rivet on hood scoop, no time to weld! That fell through, the FIA told Enzo and Carroll, to put up or shut up, we all know how that went, so the S/C was invented, the most replicated car in history! Back to wire wheels. To save money and wear and tear, AC put what they called, slave wheels on the big block cars. These were nothing more then old Ace wheels, turned around to clear the rear disc rotors. Shelby, in turn would send them back to AC in small batches. Whether the car had spline hubs for centerlock wire wheels, or pin drive for Halibrands, they were on the slave wheels. As Keith Judd who worked for AC at the time put it, "on those cars, they looked like bicycle wheels!" Can't argue with him, as you can see by the photo bellow. It would be fun, if one of the Cobra museums could make a diorama of the AC paint booth, like in the photo!

[t walgamuth]

Thanks for sharing with us.