1966 Tires & Wheels & Laquer Paint

[Keith B.]

Gentlemen & Ladies:

Waited 26 yrs, since age 14 to buy my first C2 Midyear and on July 16, 2004 located and purchased a One Owner(76yr old nice gentlemen) 1966 427 convertible with 39,930 miles from Colorado. Silver pearl on Silver int. NO Hit body, all original driveline, etc. Perfect frame and owner history including dealer invoice, org Title,pop, and other dealer/owner info. Pwr steering, factory wheels, factory hard-top, L-36, M-21 4-spd, posi, tint, radio, pwr ant. Very excited!!

The original hubcaps were stolen and the original owner has some oversized tires and aftermarket incorrect mags on car that I'm going to take off immediately. This car deserves K.H. knock offs but cannot afford right now. Questions:

1) Tires: I would like the 7.75 X 15 tires to put on original wheels, what brand should I use Firestone,BFG repo or ???. I want the WW small width tire but which one's ride the best and have that original stock appearance and where do I get them?

2)What are your thoughts on reproduction KO's, bolt on look or purist org kind?
Who makes the best quality repo's and where should I order them from?? Best price??

3)Secondly, I have tried Ecklers, Corvette America and Corvette Central, Paragaon and GM USA, and E-bay no luck in finding NOS or any 66 hubcaps. Any suggestions on finding correct hubcap wheel covers + spinners???

4) Lastly, my car has one re-paint in laquer in 1982. Shows 7-7.5 out of 10 with good shine. How can I make it better. I'm used to polishing base/coat enamel cars but no experience with Laquer. What should I use or can I take it to a pro to wet-sand???

Thank-you very much,,,,,,,,,your comments are appreciated/
Cheers/Keith.

[Wayne P.]

Re: 1966 Tires & Wheels & Laquer Paint

In my opinion all the repro tires ride and drive terrible compared to the radials we're all used to. Any major brand will look and work ok. Coker, Kelsey, Lucas, are a few that can supply.
Virginia Vettes beats everybody's prices on KO wheels. Bolt on or not is your choice. They look the same. Originals will be much more expensive.
Hubcaps should be fairly easy to find. The swap meets seem to have more 64 & 66 caps than any other years. Carlisle is coming up in a little over a month. You should check it out.
Use caution on the paint! Too much rubbing will disturb the metallic and make the paint look multi-colored. If it's been cleared, you can treat if about like bc/cc.

[Wayne P.]

Re: 1966 Tires & Wheels & Laquer Paint

In my opinion all the repro tires ride and drive terrible compared to the radials we're all used to. Any major brand will look and work ok. Coker, Kelsey, Lucas, are a few that can supply.
Virginia Vettes beats everybody's prices on KO wheels. Bolt on or not is your choice. They look the same. Originals will be much more expensive.
Hubcaps should be fairly easy to find. The swap meets seem to have more 64 & 66 caps than any other years. Carlisle is coming up in a little over a month. You should check it out.
Use caution on the paint! Too much rubbing will disturb the metallic and make the paint look multi-colored. If it's been cleared, you can treat if about like bc/cc.

[Tom D.]

E-bay Advice

Look carefully. Here is a sample 66 cap on E-bay described as "surprising". By the photo, I'd say it might be a negative surprise!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=2484886869&category=10076&sspagename=WDVW

[Tom D.]

E-bay Advice

Look carefully. Here is a sample 66 cap on E-bay described as "surprising". By the photo, I'd say it might be a negative surprise!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=2484886869&category=10076&sspagename=WDVW

[Tom D.]

When searching E-bay, try multiple ways.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2484919291

Here's a set of 66 hubcaps. Notice they cannot be located by searching the title for "hubcap" or "cap*", because the seller listed them as "wheel covers".

Unless you search both the title and the description, you would miss this listing. Most people search only the title, because that is the default on e-bay.

The asterisk(*) shown above indicates you want the three letters "cap" followed by "s", or any other letter, or letters. ...called a wild-card search. This technique finds cap, caps, capacitor, capicitors, etc.

Tom D.




michiganNCRS.org

[Tom D.]

When searching E-bay, try multiple ways.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2484919291

Here's a set of 66 hubcaps. Notice they cannot be located by searching the title for "hubcap" or "cap*", because the seller listed them as "wheel covers".

Unless you search both the title and the description, you would miss this listing. Most people search only the title, because that is the default on e-bay.

The asterisk(*) shown above indicates you want the three letters "cap" followed by "s", or any other letter, or letters. ...called a wild-card search. This technique finds cap, caps, capacitor, capicitors, etc.

Tom D.




michiganNCRS.org

[Joe C.]

Re: 1966 Tires & Wheels & Laquer Paint

Keith:

If you must have original bias ply tires, then I would only use the Goodyears. They are available from Kelsey Tire. Any local Goodyear outlet can order them for you.
If you are not looking for authenticity, then I recommend a modern radial tire. This will give the best bang for the buck, and make your car ride and handle much like a modern car. It will even tighten up some of the horrible steering response. Diamondback Classics and Coker have many to choose from. Duke may chime in and offer some specific recommendations.

Joe

[Joe C.]

Re: 1966 Tires & Wheels & Laquer Paint

Keith:

If you must have original bias ply tires, then I would only use the Goodyears. They are available from Kelsey Tire. Any local Goodyear outlet can order them for you.
If you are not looking for authenticity, then I recommend a modern radial tire. This will give the best bang for the buck, and make your car ride and handle much like a modern car. It will even tighten up some of the horrible steering response. Diamondback Classics and Coker have many to choose from. Duke may chime in and offer some specific recommendations.

Joe

[Bill Stephenson]

Re: 1966 Tires & Wheels & Laquer Paint

Keith,

-------First, congratulations! It appears that you found a real jewel and dragged it back to the frozen tundra of BC.
-------It sounds as if you probably wont be making the trek to Corvette Carlisle, so E-bay may be one good way to find caps. Another is the NCRS Restorer. A third would be Hemmings. 66 Vette caps are all over the place. A friend had an NOS set for sale at Bloomington Gold and that wasnt the only NOS set there. NOS ones can be a bit pricy but way less than KH kos, and NOS 66 caps look killer on the right car.
-------If you are stuck on repop tires, get the Goodyears as they are noticeably better than the others in both looks and ride. Thats not to say, however, that they will ride and handle like a good radial. They wont, and they will flat spot on you if left over night. Takes a couple of miles to work out the flat spot. Buy your Goodyears right from Lucas Automotive (1-800-735-0166).
-------Cant address your paint issue without seeing it. Sorry............Bill S

[Bill Stephenson]

Re: 1966 Tires & Wheels & Laquer Paint

Keith,

-------First, congratulations! It appears that you found a real jewel and dragged it back to the frozen tundra of BC.
-------It sounds as if you probably wont be making the trek to Corvette Carlisle, so E-bay may be one good way to find caps. Another is the NCRS Restorer. A third would be Hemmings. 66 Vette caps are all over the place. A friend had an NOS set for sale at Bloomington Gold and that wasnt the only NOS set there. NOS ones can be a bit pricy but way less than KH kos, and NOS 66 caps look killer on the right car.
-------If you are stuck on repop tires, get the Goodyears as they are noticeably better than the others in both looks and ride. Thats not to say, however, that they will ride and handle like a good radial. They wont, and they will flat spot on you if left over night. Takes a couple of miles to work out the flat spot. Buy your Goodyears right from Lucas Automotive (1-800-735-0166).
-------Cant address your paint issue without seeing it. Sorry............Bill S

[Bill Stephenson]

Re: 1966 Tires & Wheels & Laquer Paint

-------My bad on the Restorer,,,,,I ment Driveline. Dont know how that popped out........Bill S

[Bill Stephenson]

Re: 1966 Tires & Wheels & Laquer Paint

-------My bad on the Restorer,,,,,I ment Driveline. Dont know how that popped out........Bill S