Wide Steel Wheel Woes
Wanting an Old Skool look, I'd been scanning Ebay for wide steel wheels. I came across an ad. for six Mk1 Escort ones at 100 quid. As soon as I 'watched' them the vendor offered them for 75. Making sure from the pictures that they were 13" (very early Escorts had 12") I bought and paid for them. Having collected them from Aylesbury I ordered five 165 80 13s from my ever helpful supplier, who removed the old rubber so I could refurbish them. One was scrap, one was borderline, so OK for a spare, and four were pretty reasonable, given their age. Countless hours with flap wheels, cup brushes and rust converter had the main four top-coat ready, so I offered one up to check the look. Oops, they're 100E with a 4.5" PCD. My tyre man was ready with my new rubber so I broke the habit of a lifetime, put my hand in my pocket, and bought five new 5.5J ones from John Brown Wheels with free next day delivery and a small but welcome 'end of line' discount. With the new rubber on the Phaeton's value doubled overnight!
Apparently wide 100E steels are a fave of hot rodders so, with luck, I might get my money back!
Regards, Mick
|