Torq Thrust Wheels
 

The original torq thrust wheels were made by a drag racer in the 50s named Romeo Palimedes. He made some wheels for himself and the other drag racers saw them and asked if he could make them some. That is how American Racing Equipment was started.

American Racing The Original Torq Thrust
 

The first wheels were made out of magnesium, the aluminum wheels did not show up until latter on. The first wheels used a rounded spoke. The more common style spoke did not show up until the early 60s. A trademark of the Americans is the beveled edge near the spokes. Some of the magnesium wheels do not say American Racing Equipement on the back side of the wheel. The 15X6 wheels do not say Torq Thrust on the back side.

Trade Mark Beveled Edge
 

...

The Copies
 

Torq thrust wheels are probably the most copied wheel ever made. Some of the copies have names on them and some don't. There are ways to identify all the copies. Some of the copies were made in Japan.

Sema Spec
 

I don't know when the Sema Spec started showing up on some of the after market wheels, I think it may have been the second half of the sixties. SEMA was started in 1963 and at first there were no Government regulations.

Fenton Hustler
 

14X7 Someone repainted the wheel, the original color of the spokes was black.

I will post more in the next few days.

I love these wheels! Im gonna run a set on my 69 ta with the centers painted the stripe blue color. I cant wait.

ET
 

Uses uni-lug, says ET on the front of the wheel.

Keystone
 

No numbers or letters on the front or backside. Uses rounded spokes

US Wheel
 

No name front or back. Edge near the spokes is flat. Made with a thick pad on the back of the wheel in the lug nut area. The pad is made to be machined to change the offset of the wheel. Some wheels have the pad already machined down and some don't.

Appliance
 

Close copy of the Americans. Has JAPAN on the back side of the wheel

Why is this a sticky?

Caps
 

The picture is a reproduction cap. It will fit all of the above wheels. The untrained eye will assume the wheel is an American because of the cap. The cap that fits the vintage torq thrust wheels, will not fit the reproduction American Racing D wheels.

The lug nut on the left is refered to as a peanut lug, it fits the earlier American Racing and ET wheels with uni-lug. The other lug nuts will fit the latter Americans and most of the copies.

14X6 Wheel and A body Disc Brakes
 

A 14X6 wheel will fit disc brakes and turn. It's a tight fit. You can have problems using the stick on wheel weights that are required to balance the wheel.

14X6 wheel on 79 A-G Body Disc Brake
 

The G body-S10 brakes use a smaller rotor than the 69-72 A body factory disc brakes.

As a matter of fact I'm looking for a set of the these wheels for my '68 firebird. 15 x 8's - Are the knock offs the same quality? Where can I find a set? How much would I expext to pay for everything complete American vs. Knockoffs?

15X8.5 might not fit inside the wheel wells of a 68 Firebird. You don't get a lot of selection on the offsets, they are one piece wheels. It's hard to give a price on used vintage wheels, it depends where you get them from.

I believe the quality of the vintage American Racing wheels is better than the reproductions.

There are places that cut the vintage wheels apart, make a custom offset and then weld the wheels back together.

Vintage 15X6 American Racing Equipment "D"
 

Also refered to as crows foot. Made to fit 65 and later Corvette with disc brakes. Wheel is different than the reproduction D.

A problem with the TT'D's is that no back spacing options are offered. I have 7" wide 15's and I can't put the wider rear axle in my 65 GTO without tire rub on the quarters. Narrow axles in anything but 8.2 are difficult to find.

They made the wheels for the tires avalable at the time. The car manufactures did not design the cars for wheels and tires that were not avalable yet. They made a 15X8.5, it was probably used for drag slicks. A lot of the bigger tires avalable in the 60s were 14 inch, not 15s. I have a US TT wheel that is 15X8.5, it fits on the rear of a 1970 Lemans, if I try to fit the wheel on any Pontiacs built in the 60s, it sticks out of the wheel well.

Any one have input on the safety issues running the vintage mags?We have all had or heard of these things loosening or coming off. I seen it more than once myself. Is the risk maybee greater with the unilug design uposed to specific bolt paterns? Is an american a safer better quality wheel?Are the 2 piece look alikes junk? The new torque thrust may not be the real thing but supossidly no safty issues.Ihave a few sets of americans and the wanabees but i may be affraid to run them.Maybee i worry to much but add horsepower a manual trans and some traction and?The scariest part to me is the quarter panel you know the panel you just just spent 40 hours blocking sanding on. the panel they dont reproduce, the panel that makes your car stand out because its the straightest one in the field.I know theres one member with a very nice 68 conv. that knows what its like.

Why would the vintage wheels loosen any worse than the reproduction wheels? Most of them use the same lug nuts as the reproduction wheels. What will the reproduction wheels look like when they are 40 years old? Will they look as good as the vintage Americans? Put a reproduction wheel next to an original wheel and see which one looks like the better quality wheel. Anybody can run out and buy a repop wheel. It takes some work to get the vintage wheels.

Awesome info Ken. I should have kept the magnesiums I had...

Torq Thrust D on 67' GTO.
 

I like the looks of this wheel. Went to the Summit site and found that the 15 x 7 wheel has a 3.750 inch backspace. These wheels would be for a 67' GTO. What size tire can be run on these particular wheels without any rubbing/clearance problems? I would like to run 235x60 Goodrich Radial T/A's if they fit properly. I think my factory Rally's have a 4.375 in. backspace and I'm wondering what difference the 3.75 in. backspace will make. Tahnx.

It means the tire you take off the ralley and put on the D will be about 5/8" closer to the fender lip.

04.375" offset ralley
- 3.750" offset TTD
=0.625"

In any event, do yourself a favor and consider ANY other tire than Radial TAs LOL

I took a lug nut without a washer on it and put it in a few different wheels. On the American wheels, the end of the lug nuts go past the flange without the washer. It does not on the other brands. The washer is required, when you buy the lug nuts, they sell the washer seperate. The earler wheels that use the peanut lugs don't use the washer, the lug nut does not stick out past the flange.

Why is this thread a "sticky"?

Hey Ken,
What do you make of this TorqThrust?? Its American Racing but the attachment for the center cone isnt there. They say American Racing Equipment on the back.
-Don

I believe its a T-70R.
I have the plain T-70 wheels.

Jeff,
Are those American Racing??
BTW what size rotor are you running?
-Don

Don,
That's a rear hat style rotor from a 77-79 Caddy it fits on the original 64 hub. Its part of the old style Scarebird disc brake conversion (the best!).
The wheels are vintage American T-70 I now have after market center spinners I bought on E-Bay.
I lucked out and picked up five wheels. The spare didn't balance well but its in the trunk anyhow.

Since my 462 install I take my car up to 145 mph. So I'm switching to stock steel chrome rims. I just don't like going that fast on old aluminum wheels even though they are as smooth as glass.

That rim you have is rare. Terry at AKH might be interested in it.
http://akhwheels.com/

Hi Jeff,
Thanks for the link. I just purchased some brackets from Scarebird and cant wait to assemble the setup.
Any problems with yours?
Im actually going to run the TorqThrusts up front on my Goat with 15x7 black steel wheel in the back with those new Firestone Drag Slicks.
-Don

Don,
My Scarebird brackets worked like a charm.
Actually there's nothing wrong with my American wheels. I wish they were hub centric though.
I'm going to see if I can make a reducer ring that will fit my 3" hubs.

Does American racing or anybody for that matter make a center ring to convert American Racing wheels to hub centric configuration?

Thank you

You will have to check your measurments , but I found these. Maybe something here will work. I imagine it would be some of the ones at the bottom of the list with a 3" hub bore. Bill

http://www.jegs.com/webapp/wcs/store...2543_-1_152701

Thanks Bill, but I decided to go with new steel chrome rims.
I'm going to e-bay the Americans. They're nice wheels I just don't like going real fast on 40 year old aluminum wheels.

Hi Jeff, I saw the differant chrome wheels on your trans shifting clip you posted. They look nice. I was looking at this thread and saw your older post and happened to see the rings today. Maybe they can help someone else.

Those hub rings would be the right move with those American wheels.

JUST FOR FUN.....
 

Romeo Palimedes passed away not too long ago. Here's a pic of one of his early diggers. About 1958-59 I think.. this one appears to have Hallibrand wheels.

Are you sure those rear wheels don't have PALIMEDES cast on the back side?

1964 Torq Thrust on finned aluminum front brake drum.

I'm happy I ran across this thead, I've got a set of wheels here and maybe Ken can determine if they are 60's vintage. I'm running them on my '65 GTO.
On the back all they say is "American Racing Equipment", "Patent Pending".
One wheel has PG1022 stamped on the back side of one of the spokes, another has PG812. I've been told they are 60's vintage but would like to know for sure. Thanks for any help you can supply.

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m...100_3169-1.jpg
http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m...3/100_3209.jpg
http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m...3/100_3212.jpg
http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m...3/100_3214.jpg

That is a T70. They use a different center cap. I don't know the history on those. I think they made them in the late 60s. Is that a 15 inch wheel? The 14 inch wheels were more common in the mid 60s.

Can you post a picture of the wheel without the center cap on it.

Ken, they are 15 in. and look to be about 7 in. wide. and take a shanked lug nut.

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m...3/100_3222.jpg

The cap is the same as a CP200. You can still buy them. They made them with a groove and non grooved in the cap area. I can't tell by the picture. I think the one with the non groove was made first. Not sure but I think they made them briefly in the late 60s and then stoped making them for a few years. The lug nuts became standard in the late 60s and aftermarket wheels still use them. It looks like that wheel was made so you could use disc brakes.