Wheel Center Caps

A wheel center cap, or centercap is a decorative disk on an automobile wheel that covers a central portion of the wheel. Early center caps for automobiles were about three inches in diameter and primarily served the purpose of keeping dirt away from the spindle nut and wheel bearings of vehicles. Center caps are often found on new cars to hide the lug nuts, and/or the bearing. Center caps are a type of hubcap, the other primary type being wheel covers. Some modern center caps are retained to the wheel using spring clips, while others are retained by the wheel lugs or other threaded fasteners.

Early center caps were usually either very small, or very large. They started on cartwheels and wagons and slowly evolved into what we know them as today. Many of the centercaps from the 1950s to the 1970s were made of stainless steel.The rest of the wheel was originally of wood or many fitted metal parts. Center caps are often found on the old and classic Volkswagen cars and vans. In modern times, center caps are both metal and plastic, and are typically used with aluminum alloy or styled steel wheels. Some full wheel covers use removable center caps, typically those retained by lug nuts, with the center cap's purpose to hide the lug nuts that are holding down the hubcap.

Often a center cap will bear the logo or trademark of the maker of the automobile or the maker of the center cap. Early center caps were often chrome plated. Center caps were immortalized in the Art Deco styling of the spire of the Chrysler Building in midtown Manhattan.

Center caps that are found on trucks are "baby moon" center caps, that originated on Mack Trucks and are most popular and commonly found on Freightliner Trucks.

American Racing Wikipedia

History

"Romeo Palamides, an early drag racing innovator,Grandfather of Jet Racing, designed and crafted leading edge, high strength-to-weight magnesium drag racing wheels for his dragster. It was the early years of hot rodding and street enthusiast interest in the lightweight, higher tech wheels was overwhelming. Romeo's vision, working from Jim Ellison's small machine shop in San Francisco with engineering innovator Tom Griffith, evolved into America's leading aftermarket wheel company. In 1956, they formed American Racing Equipment"

Platinum Equity investment group acquired American Racing Equipment Inc in June 2005.^[1]

Torq Thrust

American Racing became famous with the Torq Thrust wheel that, although first applied on the dragstrip, became a popular street racing wheel. The Torq Thrust was specifically designed with a "tapered parabolic contour" spoke, as opposed to a semi-solid modular design, to increase brake cooling and simultaneously decrease wheel mass.

The American Racing Torq Thrust wheel is considered by some as the most famous muscle car wheel of all time^[2] and is sometimes credited as starting the entire custom wheel movement.^[2]

Baja

The Baja was one of American Racing's first aluminum truck wheels and remains a great seller to this day. It is a one piece 8 hole design and comes in either a polished or chrome finish. This wheel is still extremely popular with trucks, Jeeps and other off road type vehicles and is available in many sizes, offsets and lug patterns.

Libre

The Libre, sometimes known as the "daisy" wheel, was a 4-lug, 4-spoke wheel popular with sports car racers, often seen on MGB's and Datsun 510's. Each spoke appeared to bulge slightly in the middle, giving the wheel a robust appearance. These were cast in magnesium for racing and in aluminum alloy for street use. American Racing eventually sold the Libre molds to Shelby American, who marketed the Libre under their own name. Some 13" Libres have raised lettering on one spoke reading "SCCA", indicating wheels that were specially made for SCCA's Spec Racer program.

200 S

The 200S used the "daisy" spoke of the Libre in a 5-lug, 5-spoke design. The 200S was popular with Corvette owners and street rod builders.

LeMans

The LeMans was another 4 and 4 design, cast in sizes and fitments for sports cars such as Alfa-Romeo. Each tapered spoke was wider at the hub than at the rim, giving a lightweight appearance similar to Ferrari wheels of the period.

Silverstone

This was AR's take on the 4-lug, 8-spoke British Minilite wheel for sports cars. The main difference was that one side of each spoke was relieved near the hub for lug nut clearance. with the other side of each spoke continuing to the hub circle. These were cast in magnesium for racing and in aluminum alloy for street use.