Back again?
Of course you are...who can resist another dose of wheel hunting? It's time for part three:
Mooneyes Speedmaster:
Muchos hot rod flavour in this one from Mooneyes, and not unlike the Salt Flat Special from American Racing. It's the Moon rim we're choosing here though as it's fitments are more relevant to our wheel guide - it comes with 100 and 114.3 mm PCDs (both 4 and 5 stud) as well as an air-cooled-tabulous 205mm five stud for you pre-'67 veedub types. There's no mega dish options here, just an attractive design that seems to work on everything - sizes consist of 5x15, 6x15 and 7x17. There's a splendid selection of finishes too with rather fetching combinations of cast and polished available. UK based retro dudes will be pleased to know that there's a UK supplier in the form of the chaps at www.roadhouseretro.com.
HD RSB:
These mighty fine specimens are RSBs by HD Wheels, they'd look just about perfect on any old school J-ride which is handy because they're available in a 4x114.3 mm PCD...but wait, there's more - they make them in 100mm too, sizes are either 7x13 (0 offset) or 7.5x15 (0 or 35 offset) the 15" is also available in a 5x114.3 although sadly only with the 35mm offset. I can see a set of thirteen inchers working especially well on a Polo where you'd usually find a nice, but common set of ATS classics.
Hayashi Street Fin:
Rims don't get much better than the Hayashi Street Fin, this classic from Japan has graced a plethora of rides that've had me drooling for years. There's good news and bad news here though; the good? You can still buy Street wheels brand new. The bad? The only place I've ever found them is on Yahoo Auctions and on Hayashi's own Japanese language website (www.hayashiracing.com). Diameters are 13, 14 and 15 inch with widths of 5 to 10. One word of advice though - if you do roll Hayashis...go wide and go deep.
Techno Racing 'Phantom':
Awesomeness! You're looking at Hayashis remake of the Techno Racing Phantom wheel - without a doubt one of THE wheels to have if you're 暴走族 (translation: 'gang of hot rodders'/Bososuku). They're not cheap and actually buying a set might be a bit difficult but a few mouse clicks on Hayashi's site in Japan verifies their existence. Go to http://www.hayashiracing.com/yayoi/yayoi.html and choose from a selection of 14" rims spanning from 8 to 12" widths with a selection of huge dish-creating offsets.
Sakura:
Considered to be the ultimate wheel by many fans of the Japanese nostalgic car scene the Sakura (cherry blossom) is a legend. Aside from a regular listing on Japan's Yahoo Auctions site and the page on Hayashi's site, information on availabilty and exactly how limited the production run is isn't clear. Sizes are exactly the same as the Techno wheels, but there is an important difference - colour...the choice is between gold or pink although I think anyone who would choose gold may have missed the point!
That rounds up part three, but you can't say it didn't end on a high note! Hopefully we'll be returning with part four soon, don't forget to let us know if you find anything!
Posted on: April 17, 2008 03:53