AAmerican Racing Wheel manufactured in China!

[Loren S.]

Re: AAmerican Racing Wheel manufactured in China!

I don't know what this China 'bashing' is all about and frankly I don't care. Seems to me we've forgotten that during WW2, China was our friend and Japan was our foe...

I had an employee whose father flew with Jimmy Doolittle and ditched his plane in China after his 60 Seconds Over Toyko. A decent number of Chineese patriots who covered for him while they transported him inland and south out of China were executed by the Japanesse. While he was alive, he had no hesitation about buying products made in China IF they were of QUALITY construction.

My point: quality products can come from any source on earth. Why disciminate on source/country of origin vs. the product itself?

Then the commies took over, and the patriots had to flee to Taiwan.

[Richard G.]

Re: AAmerican Racing Wheel manufactured in China!

Well I had to think about this for only a second.
Let me be clear “It is not the people.” It is the inequities in our systems. I prefer a system that is fair. China provides no retirement, no social security, no pollution requirements and China unfairly manipulates the value of its currency, the Yuan. An additional issue is the manufactures go to China get gizmos manufactured dirt cheap and then charge the same price as when it was manufactured in another country with the same type of laws we have. They just pocket the differences. So many times the jobs go off shore not because they have to but for the additional profit margin. This of course is like the housing bubble; it can only be played so long before the other counties can no longer afford the item because the jobs left for third world counties. Fair is fair and let the best man or country win. The stacked deck is what I don't like.
I consider manufacturing what makes a Country strong. It should be protected like Companies protect market share. We give it away. I suppose I could be wrong but I don’t see anyone in the service industry making enough money to save anything for retirement or for instance, restore an old Corvette. Do you?
Thanks, just my .02 worth.

[Jim B.]

Re: AAmerican Racing Wheel manufactured in China!

Jim ,
I think I have to disagree with you on the "original" American Racing Torque Thrusts being failure prone.
I saved for a very long time in the 60s to afford a set and never had a problem with them .
I now own quite a few "original" 60s vintage AR Torque Thrust wheels, including a few sets of magnesium wheels,and again never a problem.
American Racing Magnesuim wheels were actually available from GM for Corvette and Camaros through their HD parts program.

Not the be argumentative,but American Racing vintage wheels are the most popular and expensive to collect of all 1960s vintage 5 spoke wheels. Bob

Bob

Liike you I am not being argumentative but discussing my experience. When I say serious racing I mean NHRA sanctioned events at a sanctioned facility. I also coveted the look of the AR rims but could not afford them. They performed OK on the street as far as I know. The view of the racers was that they were made for looks.
I think if you examine the new AR wheels you will find them cast quite a bit differently due to improved metalergy and materials technology inprovements. This has nothing to do with the country of origin, just the improvements over time. I also agree that the new technology most likely came from the US and was the product of US engineering.

In the 60's I Personally witnessed the failure of AR wheels on an A/FX Hemi (the predecessor to Funny Cars) and again on a 413 Wedge running A/SS. The hubs tore loose from the rims at launch. The track I was at banned them after that. Both cars were running M/T ET Street Equivalents. This is not a setup you would see on the street.
I will agree that before the failure, some of the stock classes such as that run by stock Camaros used them without incident. I saw very few stock corvettes being raced in the 60's as they usually ran in a sports class and were not put up against the beasts. Today some of the new corvettes would toast those old monsters using cast wheels probably from China (unfortunately).
Anyway, I enjoy discussing these old events. It lets me relive my reckless youth.
Jim B