4 1970's and 1 1973(?) wheel

[Jeremy D.]

I just picked up a '70 with some interesting wheels. They're all AZ wheels, and although they've been rattlecan repainted, the stampings are still legible. The car's VIN is #3537...birthday book shows Feb. 12, 1970. Two wheels on the car are "K10 2(VS)3 AZ" which tells me Feb. 3, 1970. I have one wheel that is "K19 12 (VS) 19 AZ", which tells me Dec. 19, '69. So far, so good. The last one is the oddball..."K19 4 (VS)13 AZ", which tells me April 4, 1969. All four wheels have the BB's on the high spots on them. Would the April wheel possibly be original, or is it just too early for the car and been replaced at one time? If it's not, I can't imagine why it was replaced...I could see it if the car had been hit at one time and one of the wheels got toasted....but this car has NOT been hit,and I've had a few folks in the know look at it over & under. Or have I had too much coffee and just reading the dates wrong?

Also, since I have no literature/info on '73's, did they have AZ wheels as well? The spare that came with the car has a "K 1-2 11 (VS) 21 AZ" wheel (there IS a dash between the 1 and 2)....which tells me November 21, '72....which I would think would be into the '73 production year. This wheel has no BB on it, which I understand they quit doing for the '72's.

As usual, thanks in advance!

[Harmon C.]

Re: 4 1970's and 1 1973(?) wheel

Jeremy

The April 13th 69 wheel is out of line but many things happened in production of our Corvettes. The 11-72 wheel was made during the 73 model year and you are correct that the BB was not on that year wheel.
Lyle

[Jack H.]

Plus...

With the uniquely styled nose on Shark cars, novice drivers have difficulty knowing where the front end starts/stops until they come down the learning curve. That makes the car prone to 'curb' damage to front wheels + trim rings.

Once a steel wheel is out of round, it's generally less expensive to replace the wheel with one from a donor car than to have the wheel 'trued' by a wheel shop. That's especially true if the original damage was done years ago...

[Philip C.]

How about snow tires *NM*

[Jeremy D.]

Re: How about snow tires

In 1968, my Dad put studded snow tires and a deep dish steering wheel on his '62 4:56 fuelie so my pregnant mother could get herself to the hospital in the snow if she went into labor with me while my dad was at work. That car was their daily driver for a while until Dad bought a GTO. He figured a 4:56 Positraction car with snow tires would be a good snowmobile. The car had those very tires on it when I sold it, and I still have the deep dish wheel.