charlie8575 Posted November 12, 2015 Share Posted November 12, 2015 I once bought the Revell snapper and never looked back.I have to agree, that Revell snap kit is a gem. Goes together very easily and looks super.Charlie Larkin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Junkman Posted November 12, 2015 Share Posted November 12, 2015 Two different things. Hubcaps are smaller and cover only the hub and lugs/lug nuts, leaving a good deal of the steel wheel exposed. Wheel covers cover the whole wheel (Except maybe a small portion of the rim). I dunno about the C1s, but no Corvette from '63 on came with "hubcaps." (The caps on Rally Wheels were called "center caps.")Anything stuck to a wheel to embellish it was called a hubcap, regardless whether it only covered a part of it, or the entire wheel.The first time I ever heard the term "wheel cover" was in the Eighties. I immediately relegated it to sales brochure jargon and never use the term in normal parlance.For me, even a '61 Imperial LeBaron has hubcaps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snake45 Posted November 12, 2015 Share Posted November 12, 2015 "Wheel covers" or sometimes "full wheel covers" is commonly used in '60s showroom brochures. Come to think of it, I can't recall ever seeing the term "hubcap" in such literature, but then they wouldn't have been trying to up-sell basic hubcaps. They just wouldn't be mentioned.So, yes, the term "wheel covers" has been around WAY longer than the '80s. And it means something different from "hubcaps." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
louie Posted November 12, 2015 Share Posted November 12, 2015 I agree with Snake45 on this one. The term wheel cover at least from what I know goes way back, even further back then the 60's. Sorry, not trying to make waves just wanted to add what I know. Thank you. Jeff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg Myers Posted November 12, 2015 Share Posted November 12, 2015 I always wondered why a car as cool as the corvette would have hubcaps / wheel covers instead of custom wheels / mags. and when i saw these , i couldn't believe it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pharoah Posted November 13, 2015 Share Posted November 13, 2015 I always wondered why a car as cool as the corvette would have hubcaps / wheel covers instead of custom wheels / mags. and when i saw these , i couldn't believe it. I was around back then when those Corvettes were new. Mag wheels were just catching on and becoming readily available. They were still pretty expensive for most people. The majority of 'hot' cars had white walls, black wheels with baby moons or chrome reverse wheels. If you had mag wheels on your car in '63,you were really cool. Watch American Graffiti,the black '55 Chevy has chrome reverse wheels,as well as Milner's coupe. The GM factory offered the knock-off aluminum wheels,but from what I've read they didn't work well at first. Air leaks and things like that. And they were $$$$$. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unclescott58 Posted November 13, 2015 Share Posted November 13, 2015 I agree with Snake45 on this one. The term wheel cover at least from what I know goes way back, even further back then the 60's. Sorry, not trying to make waves just wanted to add what I know. Thank you. Jeff X2. Snake explained it the way I've always understood it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pharoah Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 I just watched Jay Leno's Garage (youtube) review of a beautifully restored 63 Corvette.He and the restorer/owner called them hubcaps Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg Myers Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 Revisionist experts ? A garage full of cars doesn't make one an expert. Through the years the meaning of terms change, weather through miss use or miss understanding. Seems simple enough, "Hubcap", covers the hub; "Wheel cover", covers the wheel. Do we need to get into this as well ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deano Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 Revisionist experts ? A garage full of cars doesn't make one an expert.Through the years the meaning of terms change, weather through miss use or miss understanding.Seems simple enough, "Hubcap", covers the hub; "Wheel cover", covers the wheel.And the two terms have been interchangeable in popular usage for as long as I can remember and everybody seems to know what is being talked about regardless which term is being used. Oh, as long as we're being pedantic; "weather" is what's happening outside, the term you're looking for is "whether", a much graver error than "hubcap/wheel cover". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg Myers Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 (edited) Oooops. My bad Edited November 17, 2015 by Greg Myers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Can-Con Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 Maybe it's a regional thing. I'm 50 and everyone I've known since I was old enough to know what they were talking about called them hubcaps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pharoah Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 Maybe it's a regional thing. I'm 50 and everyone I've known since I was old enough to know what they were talking about called them hubcaps. That could be. Wasn't Leno originally from Chicago? I'm in Indiana. I'm 63 too, so maybe it's an old school thing. Some people say 'engine' and some say 'motor' for the thing under the hood.Whatever makes you happy. Back to the models! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unclescott58 Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 That could be. Wasn't Leno originally from Chicago? I'm in Indiana. I'm 63 too, so maybe it's an old school thing. Some people say 'engine' and some say 'motor' for the thing under the hood.Whatever makes you happy. Back to the models!If your talking about Jay Leno, he was originally from Boston. Not Chicago. And Greg and Snake have it right. A hub cap covers basically the hub. The center of the wheel. Leaving a lot of the outer rim of the wheel expose. A "full" wheel cover covers the full wheel. In most case a very small sliver of the rim is seen. It's really that simple. Go back and look at factory literature from the past. Most cars came with hub caps as standard equipment. Full wheel covers were optional. And in the 1930's, 40's and early 50's, it was common to see hub caps with trim rings. A look I still like to this day.Speaking of Jay Leno's '63 Vette, I built my last version of the AMT '63 to match his. In the past I've always built that car the same way. Red exterior with and red interior. But, Jay's inspired me. I really like the silver. So this is the first '63 coupe I've built in a color other than red. But, if Round 2 ever sees fit to reissue MPC's 1/16 scale '63 (stock) Vette again. I'll be back to building another red one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snake45 Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 Speaking of red '63 Vettes, I built Revell's snapper, polishing the (red) body. Just bought another one to build for a friend's kit for Christmas, and guess what, the body is now molded in a metallic or slightly "sparkly" red. I was going to paint it with some Krylon red sparkly paint I bought, just to use the stuff on something to see how it worked, but the molded body looks ALMOST exactly like that paint on a spoon! I'm just gonna knock the mold lines off this one, and polish out any random scratches I find and call it good. The kid won't know the difference and I'm betting he'll be thrilled with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Can-Con Posted November 18, 2015 Share Posted November 18, 2015 (edited) That's OK, I'm usually wrong ,, maybe even right now. LOLAll I'm saying is everyone I know calls them hubcaps for as long as I can remember so we're all wrong. We also call snowmobiles skidoos and the electricity bill a "hydo bill" . It's just slang,,just the way we talk. No big deal. Edited November 18, 2015 by Can-Con Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robberbaron Posted November 18, 2015 Share Posted November 18, 2015 I'll throw in my 2 cents with Snake and Uncle Scott. My family always made the differentiation between hub caps and full wheel covers, so as long as I can remember I've also made that determination. Maybe we were more aware of it since we had vehicles with both types in our family.I also agree that it probably could also be a regional thing, or even come down to the group of friends someone hung out with growing up. If no one ever made the distinction, the thought would never occur that there was different terminology than what you had always been using.Things were pretty cut and dried for most American cars up until probably the early to mid sixties, when aftermarket "mags" and factory "sport" style wheels started coming on the scene. Pretty much anything that's not a traditional hub cap or wheel cover was called a center cap, but that's kind of a catchall.Sometimes (like on Chevy rally wheels) the center cap covers the lug nuts, almost like a traditional hub cap. On other wheels, like the Buick road wheels and pretty much all the traditional "mags", the center cap only covers the center bore of the wheel. Often a center cap is designed to fit only that specific type of wheel (for example you can't install center caps from a Chevy rally on a conventional steel wheel). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Stock Posted November 18, 2015 Share Posted November 18, 2015 Just to offer the UKs take on this on all old cars say pre 1975 we would call them hubcaps generally because they cover just the centre part of the wheel (wheelnuts/hub cover), form the late 70s on when cars had full covers we call them wheel trims . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Can-Con Posted November 18, 2015 Share Posted November 18, 2015 After sleeping on it ,,I'd like to offer an apology to Ron for helping get this thread so far off topic and thank him for taking his time doing up the original post and taking all those pics so we can all see what's in the kit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FordRodnKustom Posted November 20, 2015 Share Posted November 20, 2015 After sleeping on it ,,I'd like to offer an apology to Ron for helping get this thread so far off topic and thank him for taking his time doing up the original post and taking all those pics so we can all see what's in the kit. No problems Steve but thanks for the thought. I understand that sometimes these threads take on a life of their own. I find most of the side discussions interesting...to say the least! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unclescott58 Posted November 20, 2015 Share Posted November 20, 2015 Interesting that we've been keeping the wheel cover/hub cap topic alive, on a kit that comes with neither! I do wish it would now get back to the original subject. The AMT '63 Corvette kit. So I'll try. As noted, I've built several of the coupes over the years. And despite it being an older, primitive kit, I still like it.I'm curious. How much different is the convertible/roadster from the coupe version of this kit? I do know that the original AMT issue of the '63 Vette convertible came with rotating headlamps and stock Corvette wheel covers. I think it may have also come with a hardtop, a luggage rack and some luggage for that rack. I don't know about that for sure, because I never bought the convertible.With purchasing the recent reissue of the coupe, it's gotten me thinking about picking up the convertible. But, the last issue I see being sold on eBay, looks like they switched the model over to the same aluminum wheels as are included in the coupe kit.So what is or is not in the more recent releases of the convertible? I know the rotating headlamps have not been included in the kit for years. I wonder how they looked built. And if they workd okay? It would be a cool feature to see restored to the convertible version of this kit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snake45 Posted November 21, 2015 Share Posted November 21, 2015 The more recent reissues of the roadster have paralleled the coupe almost exactly, except that the Prestige issue included the hard top and the wheel covers.Only the original annual '63 roadster (and maybe the custom '67 THE Cat version) had the rotating headlights.I don't think the hard top appeared until '66, and it was in the '67 kit. I think the '67 also had an all-clear hard top. It also had an optional panel van top.The luggage rack was in some years before '66, but I know it wasn't in the '66. (It might have been in the Prestige issue.) Some years--'65 and '66, I'm pretty sure--included a cut-down windshield. The '66 had a headrest/wing/rollbar thing. I believe every year of the annuals had a couple of unique goodies not found in the other years. The '64, for example, had an optional custom fastback hardtop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FordRodnKustom Posted November 21, 2015 Share Posted November 21, 2015 I have a Prestige issue of the roadster in my stash. I'd be glad to do a "what's in the box" for y'all if there's any interest? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg Myers Posted November 21, 2015 Share Posted November 21, 2015 Ok, yer on, thanks Ron. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unclescott58 Posted November 21, 2015 Share Posted November 21, 2015 I have a Prestige issue of the roadster in my stash. I'd be glad to do a "what's in the box" for y'all if there's any interest?Yes, please. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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