Cheap Repro 1956 Mercury Spinner Hubcap

[mercman from oz]

Cheap Repro 1956 Mercury Spinner Hubcap.
Have you seen anything so disgusting?

 

[58Yeoman]

I think some of those were rusting before they left the store.

 

[mercman from oz]

Compare this Genuine 1956 Mercury Spinner Hubcap with the cheap, nasty Repro example shown above. No comparison.

 

[Ford Freak]

Mercman - what was the repro cap exposed too that made it turn to %$#@ ?
How long did it take to get like that? I was looking at those the other night. No thanks!

 

[mercman from oz]

Ford Freak, A friend purchased a 1955 Mercury Hardtop, and these cheap 56 Mercury Spinner Hubcaps came with it. As you can see from the rust, they are made very cheaply, whereas, the Genuine Full FoMoCo Hubcaps are made from Stainless Steel, and are as good in the inside as on the outside. As mentioned by 58Yeoman, some of those were rusting before they left the store.
I have a friend who bought a 1958 Dodge Custom Royal which had Mag Wheels when purchased, but the owner kept the original 14" Wheels and Spinner Hubcaps. My friend was not impressed by the rust on his Spinner Hubcaps, and when he tried to fit them, they were actually Repo 15" look-alike 1958 Dodge Spinner Hubcaps, as like the Ford Full Wheel Covers, the Dodge Full Wheel Covers are also made from Stainless Steel. It is obvious that back then, there was a market for Spinner Hubcaps to fit to Custom Cars with various size wheels.

 

[58Yeoman]

Here are two pictures from JCWhitney out of Chicago in 1984. These are the cheap wheel covers they sold that were similar to OEM, but much cheaper, $32.95 for a set of four. The small hubcaps were given to me by a friend who bought a '58 Studebaker, and they were on it. They, too, are repops, but not as rusty as usual.

 

[Grumpy Rick]

I have a set of '57 Thunderbird/Ford covers that look good, but they seem too lightweight to be real. I figure they are repops, but they do look pretty good.

Were the '57's aluminum rather than stainless?

Edit: Just went out and looked at them, no markings or numbers at all on them. Gotta be repops.

 

[mercman from oz]

J C Whitney Catalogue, Chicago in 1984 - 58Yeoman

 

[mercman from oz]

Yeoman, those three Hubcaps are Austin Hubcaps - England. I doubt that they are Repro??

 

[58Yeoman]

Looks like you're right, mercman. I'm thinking they didn't come ON his Studebaker; must've come from somewhere else.