68' Center cap

[Patrick N.]

Of my four rally rim center caps, 3 are different. One of the caps has a nice radius that transitions on the radial edge before the cap dishes inward to meet the "hat" portion of the cap. The other three have a radius plus beaded detail at this same transition.

Is there any uniquness to 68 caps vs. other years? I hope the cards fall in favor of the 3 I allready have if there is.

Thanks again,
Pat

[Terry B.]

Re: 68' Center cap

Hi Patrick,

I never heard of any special '68 derby rally cap. Now PO-1 is a different story. Would you be able to post a picture of the two styles for all to see?

Thanks,

Terry

[Patrick N.]

Re: 68' Center cap

Thanks Terry,

glad to hear that there is one less 68 only part I have to track down

OK, hope these images tell the story-
The cap in question is the first pic and is the most polished, I tried to lay a pencil to show the effect. The dished area comes up and rolls smoothly into the edge radius running around the lower ring. the center hat has GM logo and part number but no country of origin markings (seen in pic num 3). Additional, a "seem" is visable on this brim portion ( i'll post an image of this as well)

The second pic shows the other 3 caps where the dished are comes up, has a "bead" you can feel with a finger nail. These three have center hats that are made in Canada, pic num 4.

I will post a second set of images to show the difference.


Thanks for the help on this.

Best ,
Pat

[Patrick N.]

Re: 68' Center cap

The 1st image shows the seem and smooth radius on the cap pointed out by red arrows on the cap. The second image shows the beaded cap that are on the other 3 caps on the car.

Pat

[Grant W.]

Re: 68' Center cap

The 1st image shows the seem and smooth radius on the cap pointed out by red arrows on the cap. The second image shows the beaded cap that are on the other 3 caps on the car.

Pat

Hi Pat
Well I think all this came about on ebay....rare NOS 68 stuff only. Now it could be right for a 68 vette and it could be right for a 68 Camaro, Chevelle or any 68 EARLY 68 GM car having the rally cap option.

Now I have been studying this no lip cap for sometime. There was some talk about it on another forum and it seems the NO Lip is a very early 68 design. I guess for early 68 GM cars including the Vette. Early I guess would be Sept Oct Nov and Dec 67 cars and possibly Jan 68 GM cars including the Vette.

The reason for the change up from NO Lip to a LIP!! is when people were installing the caps back on the cars using a foot or rubber hammer or smashing it on, the edge of the lip on the NO LIP was easily dented or creased in. So naturally owners would be taking the dented caps back to GM for a new one. Or maybe someone on the design team was testing out the caps and found the No lip design dented so easily.

So with the new Lip design the ridge formed a harder edge thus no damage.

Also now because it is per-say a vette item only they want $$$$ for them.

Lucky my car is June and doesn't need the NO Lip design.

Anyways this is what I heard and was told a while back.

Hope this helps.

Grant

[Joe L.]

Re: 68' Center cap

Hi Pat
Well I think all this came about on ebay....rare NOS 68 stuff only. Now it could be right for a 68 vette and it could be right for a 68 Camaro, Chevelle or any 68 EARLY 68 GM car having the rally cap option.

Now I have been studying this no lip cap for sometime. There was some talk about it on another forum and it seems the NO Lip is a very early 68 design. I guess for early 68 GM cars including the Vette. Early I guess would be Sept Oct Nov and Dec 67 cars and possibly Jan 68 GM cars including the Vette.

The reason for the change up from NO Lip to a LIP!! is when people were installing the caps back on the cars using a foot or rubber hammer or smashing it on, the edge of the lip on the NO LIP was easily dented or creased in. So naturally owners would be taking the dented caps back to GM for a new one. Or maybe someone on the design team was testing out the caps and found the No lip design dented so easily.

So with the new Lip design the ridge formed a harder edge thus no damage.

Also now because it is per-say a vette item only they want $$$$ for them.

Lucky my car is June and doesn't need the NO Lip design.

Anyways this is what I heard and was told a while back.

Hope this helps.

Grant

Grant------


It sounds plausible. The part number for the cap never changed from 1968 to 1982 but it's VERY possible that design features such as described did change for one reason or another.

[Grant W.]

Re: 68' Center cap

Grant------


It sounds plausible. The part number for the cap never changed from 1968 to 1982 but it's VERY possible that design features such as described did change for one reason or another.

Hi Joe
Hope all is well. Still need to hear your engine fired up.
Finally got my Dart 302 done for my tiger. Dart 4 bolt 302, Alum Patriot heads, 9:5 to one pistons, .566 lift cam, Weber carbs. Built to run on 91 to 94 Octane.
Dyno'd first run 395hp, tweaked the Weber, 2nd run 406hp, last run tweaked the Weber's again. 436hp and 450 lb torque.
I had the camera videoing the runs. It was awesome. Later I replayed the camera and there was no sound. Craps!!!! I think I better buy an up to date camera that has sound.
But the dyno was great and the engine ran like a rat engine. Can't wait to take a burn in the tiger.

Anyways getting to Plausible...... I like that. There is a show called Myth Busters and they test Myth's to see if they are fake or Plausible being it could be true.
So I guess it could be plausible with the early 68 caps with NO lip and switching the design to Lips.

TTYL. Grant

[Patrick N.]

Re: 68' Center cap

Thanks Grant, great feedback, makes total sense. I will say that with a March build date, I fall outside the window of early cars as noted and not hunt down 3 more ellusive no lip caps.

What I also noticed about the no lip cap was inside the center hat for this cap had 4 cast screw boss towers only. The other three have 8 towers, 4 for the screws and an extra one alongside the functional screw boss-any theories on that mystery? Center caps cracking if hit with a mallet?

Thanks again for the great insight!
Pat