Chris “Originals” 1966 GTO survivior!

[60sStuff]

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.

[60sStuff]

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.

[scuncio]

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.