Why were they different? Made by different suppliers?

I’m not sure why the change was made, but it wasn’t different suppliers.

They have different part numbers as shown in the MPC.

Car looks awesome! Where did you find the cool vintage frame ?

Thank you.

On line auction.

66-67 Door edge guards
 

The Pontiac Tempest Series cars offered Stainless Steel door edge guards from the factory, or dealer installed.

In 1966 there were two different guards offered, early and late. I think the “early” was an oops in design.

The early long version (22’’) that was used on the first ‘66 cars went from the GTO pinstripe down to the bottom of the door.
This guard is rarely seen.

I’m certain the reason for the “shorter” guard, which started around the first 1/4 of the 66 build was the upcoming design of the ‘67 GTO with it’s outside lower door trim.
This new ‘67 trim on the GTO would interfere with the long door edge guard, plus the backside mounting hole for that trim would be where the bottom tab is on that long guard.

My ‘66 did not have the guards, but I temporarily held the first design long version to the door showing how they would look.

Optional Rally I Wheel
 

The Rally I wheel was first offered in 1965 and continued through 1968 on the Tempest Series Models (Tempest, Lemans, GTO).

The style of this wheel, with it’s 6 flared slots, center cap with a stainless steel dish and chrome center cone was a favorite choice.

In addition there was a unique brushed stainless trim ring and special lug nuts.

In 1965 the stainless center cap “dish” was fully polished and the center cone had a black painted ring on top.
In 1966-68 the lower part of the dish was painted semi-gloss and the chrome cone did not have the black painted ring on top. 1966 wheel is shown.

The initial brushed trim ring that came from the factory was a full 2-1/8’’ deep.
This ring was designed to go deep, past the painted slots on the wheels without scaring the paint.
These are extremely hard to find.

There was a later brushed trim ring that came out in 1967-68 that was only 2 inches deep and was meant for the Rally II Wheel.
This 2” ring when installed on the earlier Rally I would hit the edge of the 6 slots and damage the silver paint.

I’ve measured and set a level on both style rings which shows the difference in depth.

The wheel lug nut is also unique for this Rally I wheel.
It is a solid chrome (Not a S/S capped nut) Hex Crown as shown.
These are also very difficult to find.

As mentioned earlier in this thread, in 1966 Only if these wheels were ordered you would get Red painted brake drums.

RED Brake Drums
 

I failed to speak about the application of the Red paint on these ‘66 drums.
It’s quite interesting.

It was a rolling process on the assembly line when a Tempest Series car was being built with the Rally I wheels.
The Red paint was slathered onto the brake drum, bearing dust cap and lug studs, then the Rally wheel was mounted to the wet Red paint which resulted in the dripping mess on the inside of rim as the wheel was turned.

A couple examples shown.

The first 4 photos are of my ‘66 Red paint application.
Another ‘66 with the wheel now in the trunk as a spare.

PS, I doubt you will see this on a restored car.

Kind of expected when you ask a plant guy to paint some oily drums on a car moving at line speed. :) Must have been a low enough runner that it didn't make sense to have prepainted red drums on the line.

Amazing car and love that you found the original owners. Absolutely love it.

And thank you for the lessons on many of the early 66 GTO features.