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Just bought this 66 numbers matching 427 390 with drive train recently rebuilt. Original paint and all but the carpets. Turns out those Kelsey Hayes are 1970s or early 80 Western Wheels. That said how do you read the wheel date codes BC 1781 2c 1160, ZD1179. Any Ideas?
On another forum someone says its the 11th week of 1979 and that adds up as the PO got the car in 81. There are in perfect condition since the car sat over 30 years. Though not factory Im leaving them on. Now to see if they will fit the NOS tire carrier with the longer bolts and longer locks!
On another forum someone says its the 11th week of 1979 and that adds up as the PO got the car in 81. There are in perfect condition since the car sat over 30 years. Though not factory Im leaving them on. Now to see if they will fit the NOS tire carrier with the longer bolts and longer locks!
The wheel will fit with the long bolts, it’s designed to. The issue will be the tire, ideally you’d wanna tire the same height as your rear tires, to minimize the impact on your posi unit if you ever had to drive on it for any significant distance
on another post someone said the ZD1179 is the 11th week of 1979. That would fit as the family I bought the car from owned it since 80/81and it always had those wheels. I am not sure but I believe they are the 1st generation copies. On yet another post someone wrote the story of Kelsey Hayes and Western that western was an arm of KH but didnt sell to GM until later. somewhere in the 80s Corvette America purchased the tooling to make the current repos they now sell. The western were a very close copy by design and did not compete with the main company K+H. Here is the story that I found : Well the simple answer to your question "are Western Wheels with the KH stamped on the wheels, considered a real KH wheel", the answer is NO they are not real KH wheels. They are Western Wheels produced in modified molds originally made by KH. They did not start producing these wheels until the late 70s and continued to the late 80s. When KH stopped producing these wheels for GM, their tooling was given to Western Wheel to produce them for the aftermarket. By the late 80s when Western Wheel stopped producing them, Corvette America bought their tooling. If you search this forum, somewhere you will find a long story of K/O wheels that Corvette America wrote many years ago.
But to your question "If Western Wheel was a division of KH at that time, are they now considered an original KH wheel or not?", the answer to this question is NO, because they were not produced by Western Wheel until years after the last C2 66 with P48 wheels was produced.
The ONLY "original" KH (option P48) wheels all have this embossing on the inside. Every single one. Plus a date stamp. Any without are reproductions.
For anyone still interested, here are a few photo's of the inside markings on some original Kelsey-Hayes Knock-Off wheels...
These are all photo's posted by Forum members here over the years that I downloaded to my library. One of the things that I find most valuable about the Forum is the willingness of members here to share photos of their cars and accessories with the rest of us.
Forum members Powershift and SWCDuke, along with others have posted some very interesting stuff in this post, about a year ago that you may also find helpful. Including a Kelsey-Hayes history.
Original 63 wheels were two bar spinner KH wheels
Dayton sued KH for patent infringement and all 2 Bar KH wheels were recalled before production car 50 was in the parking lot
So the story goes, all of the Corvette racing team refused to return the wheels and are the only ones out there
All other wheels were recalled and crushed/melted
KH then brought out the 3 bar spinner for 64 and shortly after had Western Wheel produce the wheel for them
So you have KH wheels for 64, then Western Wheel K-H on the contract award to Western
Then finally the Western Wheel without KH after Western Wheel got the rights from KH
So there are no K-H wheels for 63 other than the steel wheels
Then came "K-H" stamped into wheel for 64 with an Ink Date which wore off
Then came "Western Wheel K-H" stamped into wheel with a molded date
Then came "Western Wheel" stamped into wheel with a molded date
western wheel dates codes?
