Imperial Car Club Forum

I'm just shopping for my first Imperial, and so I'm trying to learn the details. I think I want a fuselage body.

I'm puzzled on one wheel cover design which I keep seeing in the ads, and hope somebody can set me straight. I think this design actually ran from '66 or '67 through '70.

I thought at first I was seeing two different designs, but after blowing up pix and looking really hard, I think it's the same one but varying with which parts are painted black. Fortunately, I found two good clear pix that I'll add below showing the difference--a '70 with all the black areas and a '69 with none. I also found a "matched" set for sale online, but if you really squint, you can see they don't really match because the black areas are not consistent on all four.

What I'd like to know is, which version is correct? Or if both are, what years are they correct for?

Thanks!

Check out the different styles here: http://www.imperialclub.com/Repair/Wheels/covers.htm

The hubcap in your 1970 pictured wheel looks like it's incorrect. The 70's hubcaps switched to a more disc like appearance for the new decade. When looking around at google images, that's what I'm also seeing... the disc-like hubcap for the 70's models. My guess someone liked the late 60's design and put it on their 70's model, or maybe they couldn't find a set of replacements after losing one or more and put on what they had available.

These were used in ‘66 through ‘69. In ‘66 they stood off from the wheel for venting and the valve stem was a tad closer to the center. I think the paint schemes did vary a bit from year to year but I have several where the black paint in the center is all but peeled off. The pic you have labeled 1970 is how they look on my ‘67s.

I'm not sold on the fact that any of these wheel covers from the late 60's had a chrome polish between the "spokes". The whole point of that design was to give a spoke appearance with a flat hubcap, and the only way to do that was to paint the space between the "spokes" as black. My assumption is any hubcaps you find today with that design where it's a nice polished look was done so due to peeling paint or someone thought it looked nice after the 60's ended.

I have no less than 2 dozen of these in my shop at the moment and all but 2 or 3 appear to never have had black paint behind the “spokes” but only a couple looked to have been polished in that same area.