Yenko Wheels

[Steve Shauger]

My belief is that they were a low cost knock off and obviously sold elsewhere. Only a handful of Yenkos were actually equipped with them. We know how price conscience Don was...

[Lynn]

Since the Yenkos were ordered with the sport car conversion, they would have come to the dealer with 15 X 7 Ralleys, correct? How many got the mags? Were all the mags the same brand? What did Don do with all the left over ralleys? (uh oh, now I did it, someone will no doubt be selling Don's "secret stash" of ralleys on ebay now along with a "notarized" letter from Don Yenko vouching for the authenticity - should take about 3 nanoseconds for that auction to start).


Lynn

[Belair62]

There was a fellow around this site who claimed to have wheels from Yenkos store with receipts...but it turned out to be BS...

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

Calling Erik Barr!!

Erik has the complete history of the Atlas wheels figured out. The Atlasburg Foundry in Atlasburg, PA was not in the wheel business, so they didn't really need to make a living on them. Erik can fill in the rest.

[qwikrat]

Does any one have a pictures of an orginal Atlas wheel that they could send me? what are some destint things i should look for on my wheels to determine if they are ATLAS or not? thanks

[Supercar_Kid]

[ QUOTE ]
Which is more like Yenko's original Atlas wheels, Torq Thrust D "Silver Edition", or Torq Thrust Original (TTO)?

[/ QUOTE ]
Neither of these really look much like an Atlas wheel when you look at the details, but if I had to pick one I'd say the TTO, since it's supposed to be "patterned" after an original Torq Thrust, and the Atlas molds were patterned after an original straight spoke American Racing Torq Thrust.

As BelAir mentioned, vintage International Dragmaster wheels do look similar to Atlas and early American wheels, but they too are different in several distinguishable ways. They also aren't any cheaper or easier to come by than vintage Americans these days. I say this as I've been searching fruitlessly for a restorable pair of 14x7s to match a pair I've already got. These wheels came in many offsets which affect the depth of the lip on the front. Not all same sized Dragmasters have the same backspacing, but that's a whole 'nother thread entirely...

If you're going for the looks of a true Yenko Atlas wheel, you won't get any closer than a set of 60s vintage American Racing Aluminum Torq Thrusts with STRAIGHT PEAKED SPOKES. (Yes they came in a straight but rounded spoke version too) While they aren't cheap or easy to come by, they are available from limited sources, which is more than I can say for legit Atlas wheels.

Good luck in your search. Paydirt looks like this.

[Belair62]

Still the best looking wheels made IMO..

[Mr70]

I'd say the Spyder wheel trumps this IMO.

[Supercar_Kid]

[ QUOTE ]
Still the best looking wheels made IMO..

[/ QUOTE ] Perhaps the most brand friendly aftermarket wheel. Looks great on 68-72 Ford-Chevy-Mopar all the same. I'd say they were best too BelAir, but I'm afraid all the Cragar S/S junkies will come out of the woodwork to argue it. Americans sure have seen a resurgence in popularity as of late. Nice complete sets are getting very tough to come by. Seems everyone wants Chevy 4 3/4" pattern too, as even the street rod guys typically run GM pattern front end set ups.

What will be the next vintage wheel to be the thing to run? I've always kinda thought these were underrated...

[FrankA.Serena Jr.]

I found a real set of Atlas wheels on a site…the price was pushing near $4k just for 4…a heavy hit!…I
had to settle for a set of 5 from 1969 that i found…Just to introduce my self,I am the original owner of the #2 Olympic gold w/white graphics’69 Yenko Camaro purchased from W.R.Auston Chevy,in Norwalk,Connecticut on June 7th.1969 as a graduation present from High school…My name is Frank A.Serena Jr..