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| Chrysler Corporation Special Wheels | |||||||||||
| On Rear Wheel Drive Vehicles | |||||||||||
| September 11, 1998 by David Lawrence | |||||||||||
| There have been a multitude of wheel styles used on Chrysler Corporation vehicles since the dawn of the muscle car. The Chrysler C-300 offered Kelsey-Hayes wire wheels (along with many other 50's cars). The mid-sixties saw the Magnum 500 wheel with a chrome rim, 5 chrome spokes, and a bullet type center cap installed on many different models. In 1969 the Magnum was introduced with a trim ring and brushed spokes in place of the chrome, the ring was easier to replace than the entire wheel when a curb was hit. 1969 also saw the brief appearance of the cast wheel commonly referred to as the "recall wheel", the lug nuts tended to work loose causing the stud holes to wallow out and let the wheel crack or come off the vehicle. The Rallye wheel was introduced with the 1970 A,B and E models along with the Chrome Road Wheel on the big cars (with a gold painted center on the 300 Hurst, argent on everything else) and the B-bodies with 15" wheel option. The Rallye wheel center caps changed for a few years and finally settled on a large design after trying a couple of smaller bullet styles. The Chrome Road wheel also had a center cap change in the mid-seventies. | |||||||||||
| After the muscle car years Chrysler continued to introduce new wheel designs as well as modify existing styles. The Magnum was modified with painted spokes instead of brushed steel. A new technique allowed the use of Urethane in steel wheels and Chrysler came out with a beautiful fine spoke design for Cordoba and Charger SE as well as Coronet and mid-size Fury and Monaco. 1977 saw the introduction of a Forged Aluminum Alloy wheel with concealed lugnuts for many models through the '82 model year, a change part way through was the addition of 5 vent holes added to the center of the wheel and the center applique. These wheels concealed the lug nuts by mounting a bracket to the center with bolts through plastic retainers, mounting the ribbed center applique to the bracket with two bolts and covered by a chrome center cap with a red foil center. Chrysler replaced the Urethane wheel with an Aluminum Fascia wheel, these had an aluminum finned cover mounted with bolts to a special steel wheel (looked like the Chrysler chrome road wheel but deeper/wider and black) and finished with a chrome center cap and trim ring. Even the Aspen and Volare' got in the act in '79 with their own wheel, regular and painted accents were available. The Chrome Road wheel was offered with a body color painted center on the LeBaron in '79. Any information about '79 wheels is incomplete without mentioning the Chrysler 300 aluminum wheel, also available on full size Chrysler (this pic is missing the trim ring) and Dodge cars. The '80 Cordoba and LeBaron offered a 5 spoke with starburst pattern aluminum alloy wheel while the Dodge Mirada and St. Regis offered the 10 spoke aluminum alloy wheel (also with available painted accents). | |||||||||||
| Not to leave out the trucks, they were offered with the Chrome Road wheel in the mid '70's and then were fitted with wagon wheels in white, black and the special Warlock gold and a unique Warlock black with gold accents. The 5 hole chrome wheel was also offered but is usually thought of as a Lil' Red Express wheel. In 1980 a turbine style wheel was offered and was installed on a large number of trucks and vans. | |||||||||||
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