17 Best Wheels and Wide Whites in Detroit

Posted by pikesan on Apr 17, 2012 in Featured, Shows & Events | 2 comments

Wide Whites Walls, Redlines & Muscle Car Style & Speed

#1 Kicking of the “Wide Whites” collection of pictures – this sled had a custom hub-cap, I think… that doubled as a secret agent weapon.

Walking around the 2012 Detroit Autorama, I took in what must be a FULL charge of hot rods, customs and full-tilt show cars when it came to the Ridler Contenders. Then, while shooting this over the top, flamed custom shown above, it hit me… what says, “My Ride is Me” more than your wheel and tire choice? (Click any image for the full size picture)

So here’s my favorites… they’ll be divided into:

• White Whites
• Modern/Race and
• Muscle

Which one’s are your favorites? (leave a comment below and we’ll discuss)

Photos of Tires & Wheels at the 2012 Detroit Autorama

#2 Custom Mercury with wide whites and ‘caps. Can someone help me out with the name of these hubcaps?

#3 This bright green hot rod pickup chose red steelies, mostly covered by a slick hubcap (custom center?) then covered’em with a white wall cheater slick.

#4 Buick Riviera sport’n wide whites and Supreme’s. A classic, no doubt. This is the flat gold cruiser of Aaron Kirby of AtomicSketchbook.com. I hope to publish a feature on his art soon.

#5 &6 Take your choice… bias ply wide whites with the Cadillac hubcaps (on the flathead powered hot rod) or go with the driveability of radials and custom flipper cap?

Moving onto Modern/Race wheels and tires…

#7 Can you dig it!! This 1971 Camaro, owned by Dave Lesinger topped my, “Why the hell aren’t these cars Ridler Contenders” list. See that Shoulda Been Great 8 story here for a couple more pics. Or… stick around and dig the Bozeforged Lateral-G 20×12’s wrapped with Michelin Pilot Sport 335/30’s. One of my favorite cars at the show and the customized wheels were a big part of the overall look. Looking closely, the wheels feature polished accents, satin silver center and lip with “SS” engraved and a blue Stripe, then custom engraved “Professor” logo on center caps.

#8 Singular mission: Be lightweight for racing. But, Weld Racing runs with style too! These are the V-Series 1 piece fronts. They’re forged, of course and spindle mount.  I’m curious Weld… what do they weigh?

#9 With a quasi-modern take to a super classic redline look, this ultra well done GTO made my list. It’s tough to see in this pic, but in high res, you can read it… These wheels are from Boyd Coddington.

#10 I should have interviewed the owner of this 1962 Chevy Impala called, “Last Date”. Everything about the car was custom and featured this brushed aluminum look. Ultra smooth… We’ll never know why this car wasn’t a Ridler Contender either.

And finally…

Photos of Tires and Wheels that Say: Muscle

I guess I could have sliced this category up more, but you’ll get the idea. These are the redlines and go-fast looking wheels that say, “Don’t mess around” when they’re on your hot rod!

#11 One of my faves! Looking closely, and confirmed by the sign, these are vintage Mickey Thompson Superstock Dragster tires. I don’t think I’ve seen a red stripe on white like that. Mounted on the black steelies, this says no-nonsense racing for this 427 Powered 64 Mercury Marauder.

#12 Two for Two! This is the front of the 427 Marauder! Unpolished Radirs and bias ply’s

#13 & 14 What else would you wrap these super cool and most likely super rare Hurst rims with than redline tires? The blue one is a 1964 Pontiac GTO “Royal Bobcat” featuring the Hurst rims and prototype “Gladiator” style Spinners. The red GTO also runs the Hurst rims. Both look fantastic on these supremely restored cars. Sometimes stock is beautiful! (Click on pictures for full size images)

#15 Gasser with skinny Cragars. A sure win. This was a gold colored 1955 Chevy with nose proudly held high.

#16 So-Cal knock-off cast aluminum wheels with Firestone dirt trackers complete the “Tupper Tuxedo” owned by Ty & Linda Tupper. Friends from American Speed Company made sure I didn’t miss this subtle but near perfect example of a hot rod 33.

#17 Finally, if you stuck around to the end, you’ll see what the fabulously creative mind of George Poteet can dream up for his Shoulda-Ridler’d (but it had already been shown) 1956 Chevy. Think you’ve seen those wheels before? Nope. They’re custom made by Curtis Speed Wheels. Mike Curtis is the guy who was the machinist on Boyd’s American Hot Rod TV show. He also custom made the wheels for another Ridler-Contending 1967 Shelby (feature story coming).

That’s it! Which wheels and tires would you pick?

For all my coverage of the 2012 Detroit Autorama, click here.