GT6 Mk1 Wheels

[GT6Craig]

what are my options for originalities sake? As ive mentioned in another thread im going to collect some wheels next week which ive been given and i could do with confirming they are right for the car before i sell the ones that are on.
Just to be clear - the only reason im not happy with the wheels that are on is because they are 5.5 and as somebodies mentioned off a MK3. Would be nice to get the proper wheels on!

[Clive]

Vitesse or herald estate wheels are 4.5, as well as the earlier GT6's. Some have slightly different "slots". If you are resourceful or lucky or prepared to pay then the hubcap wheels are are also around in 5.5J, but rare.
Clive

[rotoflex]

The GT6 Mk1 dealer literature over here all stated that they came standard with wire wheels, and "SCCA-approved" wheels optional.  Those SCCA-approved wheels were identified by GT6Steve as American Racing bolt-on wheels, & he says modern Panasports come closest to the look.

This is a part of the picture side of a US dealer sheet for the 1967 Mk1, it states the usual wire wheels standard, SCCA-approved racing equipment as optional, but shows these steel wheels on the picture.  The picture is of course a factory picture, & looks like it was shot somewhere in England judging by the combination of the light, wet, and cold-weather clothing (minus the cold-weather clothing & add Spanish Moss, the look is pretty much that found almost only along the northern US coast of the Gulf of Mexico)



The Rostyle steelies came in with the Mk2/+, didn't they?

From a US dealer brochure probably for 1968, the optional SCCA-approved wheels from American Racing:


From the same brochure:


I don't know what the options were over there.  If it were a car over here, my guess would be either the car came with optional American Racing wheels and someone took them off to sell them or something & put later wheels on, or an owner later fitted bolt-on hubs & some later wheels he got hold of somehow.

If you're looking for something that looks correct, it would be the modern Panasports as equivalents of the optional US SCCA-approved American Racing wheels.  But there are still the wheels in that top picture to consider...

[herald948]

rotoflex wrote:

The Rostyle steelies came in with the Mk2/+, didn't they?

No. The (if you will) "pseudo-Rostyle" wheel covers were just that; underneath, the wheel was the same 4.5" Dunlop steel wheel (LP875 or something like that appears on the face of the wheel). But yes, that was a feature of the Mk2/+, and I seem to remember that the wire wheel option was actually dropped for the 1970 model year in the US, but reintroduced, so to speak, in bolt-on fashion for the Mk3.

[rotoflex]

I did mean the Rostyle-hubcapped steelies, as opposed to the wheel covers on the ones seen in the top photo.

Were those top photo steel wheels/hubcaps home market only?  As mentioned, the US dealer literature mentions only wire wheels standard, SCCA-approved racing wheels optional.

[GT6 John]

If you want to go absolutely original then wires or steels (5.5J preferably, but rare as stated above) are your options.  It depends what your plans are with the car.

I currently have a set of wires, but they do flex when the car is driven hard, and now I'm driving the car daily and plan to do some rally type driving events in it I'm actually going over to 5.5J steels soon.

If you plan to use your car purely on the road then wires will be fine and do look good.

Alternatively, if Triumph option wheel originality isn't vital for you, you could go for 4 spoke Revolutions which can be bought new, and I believe were oringinally available during the cars early life but had to be bought from suppliers not affiliated with Triumph.

[Royboy66]

If you thinking of going from 5.5" to 4.5"  wheels, then im guessing it would feel a bit more 'twitchy', and less 'planted' on the road ?

Have a look at Hutch's site .....http://www.sportssix.info/wheels.php

Roy 8)

[herald948]

rotoflex wrote:

Were those top photo steel wheels/hubcaps home market only?  As mentioned, the US dealer literature mentions only wire wheels standard, SCCA-approved racing wheels optional.

I think normal specification just about everywhere EXCEPT the US market was the hubcaps and trim rings on the early GT6. I suppose it would be interesting to find out why S-T USA thought it necessary -- or otherwise desireable -- to make wire wheels standard on US cars?