Cragar S/S: The Kleenex of Retro Custom Wheels

[Capt Worley PE]

When the Cragar S/S (Super Sport) wheel hit the market around 1964, the automotive world was in a transitional period. The factory-built muscle cars made style and horsepower readily available to the general public, and the elaborate customs and home-built hot rods of the 1950s were slowly becoming a thing of the past. This new breed of showroom-bought supercars created significant demand for bolt-on accessories, and the aftermarket responded.

In the early 1960s, there wasn’t much of an aftermarket wheel industry yet. Besides some lightweight and costly competition-bred alloy selections, it was slim pickings when it came to unique rolling stock that wasn’t original equipment. Previously, customizers had to rely on swapping hubcaps from other models or, if the budget allowed, chroming factory steel wheels or sourcing optional wire wheels from some of the fancy luxury models of the day. That all changed by the mid-1960s. The custom wheel industry was growing, and the Cragar S/S was a major player.

More at: http://cgdailydrive....-custom-wheels/

Personally, I was always partial to aluminum slots. I thought the Cragars were waaaay too heavy.

 

[Master slacker]

Never did like the Cragers. Meh

 

[MA_PE]

Cragars were the bees knees!!

get some tall 60's and some air shocks. Yowza!

 

[EM_PS]

Had 'em on my '64 Corvair. Well, they werent actual Cragars - Alliance or some knock-off of the S/S style. Steel wheels, waaaay cheaper than aluminum oval slots .

 

[MA_PE]

Had 'em on my '64 Corvair. Well, they werent actual Cragars - Alliance or some knock-off of the S/S style. Steel wheels, waaaay cheaper than aluminum oval slots .

Corvair, glad you're alive to tell the story. I understand they were Unsafe at Any Speed.

 

[Capt Worley PE]

Actual quote from a guy I know. re Corvairs: "Oh, you don't want one of those. They don't drive very well when you are drunk.":

 

[Kephart P.E.]

I always liked the American Racing Coke Bottles myself. Being a child of the early 70's Cragar wheels do remind me of custom vans. :bag:

 

[envirotex]

Dad's Oldsmobile Cutlass had them.

 

[Master slacker]

 

[MA_PE]

Lighting then up with a van is about as tough as doing it with a pickup truck. I'll bet the wheel on the other side is stationary. Doin' the "one wheel peel"

Bitchin'

 

[Supe]

Wouldn't a one wheel peel be spinning the right rear, not the left?

 

[EM_PS]

Had 'em on my '64 Corvair. Well, they werent actual Cragars - Alliance or some knock-off of the S/S style. Steel wheels, waaaay cheaper than aluminum oval slots .

Corvair, glad you're alive to tell the story. I understand they were Unsafe at Any Speed.

Actual quote from a guy I know. re Corvairs: "Oh, you don't want one of those. They don't drive very well when you are drunk.":

Yeah Nader really killed off the 'vair. The actual book comprised 8 or so chapters, only 1 of which actually dealt specifically w/ the Corvair. The rest was about auto manufacturers indifference to safety features / engineering in general. And that 1 chapter only pertained to '60-'63 models. In '64, Chevy mounted a transverse leaf spring to tie the swing axle rear end down, and then in '65 changed the rear end all together to a fully independent setup. The public damage had been done tho, and ultimately the Corvair gave way to the engineering marvel of the Vega.

 

[Capt Worley PE]

Camber compensators make a huge difference in any swing axle car.

I've always been a huge 'vair fan since I was a kid.

I've frequently wondered what happened to all the wrassle castle vans of the seventies. Seems like one day in the summer 1979 they all just disappeared. I think it was the same day I heard My Sharona for the first time.

 

[MA_PE]

or the wierd Al version "My Bologna"