Re: Spirit turbine wheels - fancy or fake?

["amc74hornet" <amc74hornet@xxxx>]

--- In BaadAssGremlins@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, Jerry Casper <gremlingts@xxxx> wrote:
> Subject: Spirit AMX Turbine Wheel Question
> 
> I have never seen a Spirit AMX in the flesh. Are those
> Turbine Wheels 
> real wheels or fancy hub caps. My new Hornet came with
> a set of real 
> Aluminum Turbine style wheels with dummy knock off's
> on them but I can't 
> find a brand name on them anywhere. "Doc"
> --------------------
> Not sure WHICH turbine wheels you are referring to,
> Doc, there are several. One is the Turbocast II's,
> they have 11 spokes, with blacked out areas between.
> These are REAL turbine aluminum alloy rims. The other
> type, of which I have two sets, are 30-finned
> turbines, which are also REAL, my original set came on
> a '79 Pacer wagon ( on the original invoice, from the
> original owner, they were a $400 option in '79 !), the
> other set came off a '80 Pacer Limited. Not sure if
> they were available on others, but I would suspect so.
> The fins are smaller and the dishing isn't as much as
> the Turbocast II's. I like the 30-finned style much
> better. I've heard that they build up heat, though, as
> they are solid, no openings ( on my 30-finned rims ),
> to allow cooling air to flow round the brakes. I
> guess this wouldn't matter to highway travel, but
> maybe stop and go would cause heat buildup, dunno. I
> like the looks, anyway. :) 
> I know the Turbocast alloys came on SPirits, so they
> are AMC. Another "turbine" rim has the spokes sort of
> humped in the middle of the rim, with a trim
> ring...these WERE fake, they came on Pacers and
> others, and you take the rim off, and remove some
> bolts from the back side to take the center section
> off. I personally don't care for these, myself. But to
> each their own. Hope this answered some questions,
> 
> Jerry Casper
> woodbridge, VA
> 
> __________________________________
> Do you Yahoo!?
> Yahoo! Finance Tax Center - File online. File on time.
> http://taxes.yahoo.com/filing.html 


Thanks for the info. The wheels the car came with are definately aftermarket wheels. I think I will order me some charcole gray wheel paint from Eastwood to detail them between the spokes for a weekend project when the weather gets warmer in a month or so.
"Doc"