Volvo

Volvo

Friday 4 November 2016

Wheels?

When this car was in pieces in the workshop, I had in the back of my mind that I'd finish it off with a set of minilite wheels.  And I still think they look great on a P1800.  But... what are the other options?  

Of course I could leave it on the original Jensen steels with Jensen trims. They're rare.  They look good.  But they also limit me to very skinny tyres (I drive this car a lot, and on some of the twisty lanes around here when it's damp I'm always very aware that I'm on limited lateral grip).   Oh, and then ... there's the rarity and value of those Jensen dinner-plate trims.  Some of the prices I see on eBay are frankly scary, considering that I leave the car parked out in public places quite often (and I suppose also could lose one at speed on the M6)... maybe they are best left in the house until those days when it's at a local car show. 

I've always been drawn to the Dunlop racing wheels, as fitted to various competition Jaguars of the same era as my P1800.  After a lot of research and a number of lengthy email conversations, I discovered Realm Engineering, who make reproductions of the old Dunlop wheel to order.  After some exchange of measurements, they confirmed that they could make a set of Dunlops for the old Volvo.

However - something like this doesn't come cheap.  And I'm not entirely convinced that I couldn't achieve something similar with a wide steelie - at about a quarter of the cost of a set of custom-made Dunlops.  

What do you think of my Photoshop mock-up of the P1800 on Dunlops?  Yes or No?  





2 comments:

  1. Why not widen (band)your original rims?
    There are lots of companies who do that.

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    1. I could, but it's not expensive to buy a set of already-banded steelies in the 1800S style (i.e. with slots). My Jensen wheels don't have any slots, so they don't look right without trims. I suppose I could find some of the slightly later centre-caps with the V...

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