Yenko Wheels

[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.

[camarojoe]

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Atlas was actually the wheel Yenko used, but they were never sold anywhere

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Joe...if Atlas didn't sell them outside Yenko they would have gone out of business after they made the first set...maybe they made them for other stores or shops..they were knock offs of Americans along with the rest of the look alike wheels...pretty sure American came up with the design and it was just copied by all the rest.

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It is fact they were not sold anywhere, as Marlin said, my brother can fill in the details, but basically Yenko commissioned Atlas Foundry to make him some wheels, because (surprise!) he was trying to save money from buying them from American or other "wheel specific" manufacturers. Atlas was also the foundry that cast many other Yenko aluminum parts, including the valve covers for the Yenko Stinger Vega's etc.

[camarojoe]

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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

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VERY few cars actually got the mag wheels, even though most cars have some sort of mag on them today. I don't know an exact figure, and i don't know that anyone does, but I doubt there was ever any giant pile of 15x7 YH rallys like there would have been with the "rainbow" of XT's in 70.

[Steve Shauger]

Great information, can't wait to hear the details. How much could he have possibly saved, and what about the setup and sand casting costs to produce these low volume wheels. If Yenko saved money, the foundry probably lost some on this deal.

[camarojoe]

From what i heard, i dont think there was too much overhead or "setup" cost involved, they just used another wheel as a mold and started casting them up as per Yenko's request.

[Steve Shauger]

I guess no DOT certification or special regulations required back then.

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

To make the matter worse, these wheels were so poor in quality that they would not hold air. The only way to use them today is to install a tube, as Ed & Phil have done on their deuces with their NOS Atlas wheels.

The quality, and the DOT product liability risk may have been the reason why Atlas didn't even put their name on them. You won't find the mfg name anywhere on those rims.

The centercap was interesting as well, the A/a decal - was it already in use on their other products? I know the centers and the decals came with the wheels, as the NOS sets included them. I find it hard to believe that Atlas or Yenko would have spent the extra dough for the centercap decal when the YENKO version was already available.

[Supercar_Kid]

The story on Atlas wheels goes like this...and keep in mind this is what I've been told by Warren Dernoshek, head wrench for Yenko's race team and a key player who experienced the heyday at Yenko Chevrolet first hand. As Warren explains, the Atlas Foundry was not in the business of making wheels, valve covers, or other speed parts. Primarily they produced aluminum cores that were somehow used to make electric engines for locomotives. They were a large industrial casting facility, producing mainly large indurstrial castings. Don happened to be close friends with a gentleman who happened to be employed by Atlas as a sales rep, and who also happened to be at least partly responsible for developing the core design Atlas relied on as their bread and butter casting. The rep was a fellow Corvette owner and racing aficianado, so naturally Don worked his connection with the Atlas rep, and had them tool up, and then cast a limited quantity of the 5 spoke wheels. Warren explained that the Atlas wheel mold was made directly from a period American Torq Thrust (peaked spoke) at the time, because Don liked the look of the wheels on an employee's vehicle, and even borrowed the wheel to lend to Atlas in helping copy the design. Why go to all this trouble instead of simply buying from American, because Atlas could and did do it cheaper. Anything to save a buck and help the profitablibilty of resale. Warren explained that when they were ready, the sales rep would bring the wheels into Yenko's dealership on a pickup truck, with no special packaging for retail sales or anything like that. More like "here's your castings, do what you will with them." From there Don simply marketed them as his own mags as a substitute to the more expensive Americans, but aside from the lack of American Racing text cast into the backside, a legit Atlas wheel will be very comparable in design to an early peaked spoke Torq Thrust. So if anyone tells you they have Atlas wheels in Atlas boxes, or that they bought them somewhere other than Yenko (or stole them from the foundry) they're blowing smoke. Atlas was also responsible for casting the Yenko crest Vega valve covers, as well as some other special one off race parts of Don and Company's design. The wheels were cast in both 14 and 15 inch sizes. Hope this helps clear up the controversy guys.

[Belair62]

Unbeleivably great story you guys...and it makes perfect sense too....I wonder if they supplied Pennsy RR with the aluminum for train engines...big Pennsy shop was in Altoona...Baldwin Locomotive wasn't far either...in fact a lot of Locomotive shops were out that way...

[Kim_Howie]

Erik, What cars would have came with these mags 67,68,69??