'63 Hubcaps
 

Have just disassembled a couple of sets of '63 hubcaps..
Amazingly, all the screws came loose nicely.
Have sorted through all the bits to pick the nicest pieces to build 4 or 5 covers.for my convertible.
After considerable hours at the buffing wheel, the stainless came up great.

The Question: All screws seemed to have a dab of some sort of white compound on each tip. Some type of loctite material? Recommendations?

After all this, I can see why GM switched to a single stamping in later years! The '63 'caps look nice though!

Bill

Bill,

I just utilized standard lock-tight when I assembled mine.

You're right though....crazy amount of parts for a hubcap!

Pat
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...037ea38364.jpg

Would love to know more about the polishing material you used on those '63 wheelcovers! They look fantastic!!

jpjs

I have read that the 63 caps were the most expensive ever produced by Chevrolet for any car.

They are the best looking vett caps to my eye.:thumbs:

Blue LokTite is fine and orient the spinner so that the script can be read and is horizontal with the valve stem depression in the platter at the bottom of the rim. One of the spinner arms should be pointing straight at that depression...

You can get decent (but not perfectly correct) repro spokes and spinners - nice platters are the hard part to find; one restorer I know wants $300 per platter to remove dings/scratches and polish....

I completely disassembled them, and then took the caps to a professional polisher. He does do a great job!

Pat

Can’t wait to see your car done. It’ll be close to the “too nice to drive” threshold!

Sherms?

No, I had Sherm's do all of the plating, but I've used Dennis (Britex), out of Citrus Heights for years.....Actually decades now! LOL!

Pat

OK, thanks for that, Pat. I'll file this away. I thought Sherms did polishing also. (Never used them, tho.) Am I wrong?

Yea, you're right Jim. Sherm's does do polishing as well, and I'll bet it's top notch work, just like their chrome.

Pat

Please explain..

I have no experience on 63 caps, What are they made of? Are they chrome plated? Anodized like my 66's? Bare stainless?

I tried to 'polish' a 66 cap and just made a mess, no polishing an anodized surface...teach me..

There is a huge difference between the 63 cap and the 65/66 cap, the 63 is very ornate, they also weigh far more than the 64/65/66 cap, I don't believe they were anodized , I have a set as garage art, they polished up very nicely compared to my original 65 caps, polishing anything anodized is near impossible.

The pan is stainless that has been flash chromed. The spinner and trim bars are chrome plated pot metal. The best looking wheel cover ever produced, but a bearcat to keep clean on a driven car.

Frankie,
Have you had the reproduction spinners "in hand"?
How are they different from the originals?
Bill.

Yes. I bought a set of repros but sold them thru a friend at Lakeland a year ago. The lettering and brushed area in the center is less well defined on the repros. It’s subtle but you’ll notice it next to an original.