Beginning in the early-1960s, straight parallel spokes replaced criss-crossing ones that had been popular in the 1950s. Two- or three-prong spinners similar to ones on MGs, Jaguars, and other sports cars were fitted on many to create a performance look. (1967 AMC Marlin shown)
By 1960, wire wheel covers had become a fixture on American roads. During the previous decade, American automakers equipped them on everything from Buicks and Oldsmobiles to sleek sports cars such as the Kaiser Darrin and Nash-Healey Lemans.
Similar to the way the earliest automobiles resembled horse-driven carraiges because no other starting point of reference existed, the first generation of 1950s wire wheel covers featured criss-crossing spokes that resembled actual wire wheels from 1920s and 30s automobiles.
Popular as they had been in the mid-’50s, automakers began to drop wire wheel covers from their option sheets as the decade approached its end – feeling their now classic look (or “old-fashioned” as some described it) did not go with sleeker, wider, longer, lower finned body styling that began about 1957. So as the 1950s turned into 1960, wire wheel covers fell out of vogue for a short period. But not for long.
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Three short years later in 1963, factory wire wheel covers were making a comeback, all featuring a completely new look with parallel spokes and “spinner caps” that emphasized sportiness first and luxury second. The second phase of wire wheel cover design had begun…
Slideshow and high-resolution still pictures showing how 1960s wire wheel cover designs progressed through the decade are further below.
The timeline below will chart the changes from year to year during the 1960s…
1962: Chevrolet’s Corvair (introduced for 1960) and the Studebaker Avanti (introduced mid-1962) were the first new cars of this decade offered with wire wheel covers. While both car models were new with innovative styling, the wire wheel covers they came with used the same criss-crossing spoke pattern that had been popular in the previous decade. They continued unchanged on the Corvair through 1963, and on the Avanti through 1964.
1963: A new style of wire wheel cover debuts simultaneously on the 1963 Buick Riviera, Chevrolet Impala SS, Ford Fairlaine, and Ford Falcon. Rather than criss cross one other, spokes on these wheel covers now ran parallel to each other – perfectly straight travelling outward from center hub to edge. The look was considered newly modern, heightened by three-pronged “spinner” caps in the center to simulate the look of European sports cars of the day.
When the 1964 Ford Mustang was introduced as a new model, these wire wheel covers featuring a blue center, Mustang horse logo, and 3-prong spinner cap were optional from 1964-66.
1964: Chevrolet introduces a smaller version of last year’s Impala SS wire wheel cover for their compact Corvair (running unchanged through 1966). Ford offers similar wire wheel covers on it’s new-for-’64 Mustang (also running unchanged through 1966). Both the Chevy and Ford covers have three-prong spinner caps.
1965: American Motors/Rambler see the popularity of straight-spoke wire wheel covers and introduced their own. Both AMC and Rambler offerings are the same, and feature a red “R” on the two-pronged spinner center cap through 1967. Mercury also introduces its version of Ford’s Mustang wire wheel cover from the year before, identical except for a black center cap in place of a blue one. Oldsmobile and Buick now offer similar 14″ wire wheel covers with two-prong spinner caps for their compact Cutlass and Skylark, respectively.
1966: Ford introduces a new wire wheel cover for its large cars (Galaxie, 500) with parallel spokes but no spinner cap center. Oldsmobile also drops spinner caps on the previous year’s Cutlass wheel cover. Chevrolet introduces a 14″ wire wheel cover with darkened plate behind the spokes and three-prong spinner cap.
1967: The first Mercury Cougar is introduced (built on Ford’s Mustang platform) with optional wire wheel covers featuring no spinner cap. Mustang’s wire wheel covers are similar but now feature red centers with no spinner cap through 1971. Chevrolet’s 14″ wire wheel cover was identical to ’66 except the spinner cap center was deleted, and a new 15″ design for the Impala is launched devoid of spinner cap center also (running unchanged through 1971).
1968: Chrysler’s Plymouth division enters the wire wheel cover frey, debuting 14″ parallel-spoke covers with no spinner cap on its Barracuda coupe and Valiant (running unchanged through 1969). AMC drops spinner caps on its wire wheel covers, which continue to feature parallel spoke designs.
Chevrolet, Pontiac, Oldsmobile and Buick offer slightly differing versions of 14- and 15-inch wire wheel covers for both full and intermediate size vehicles. Two levels of spokes were actually parallel, but appeared to be criss-crossing when viewed from the side due to a layering effect.
Please give the slideshow a few seconds to queue up initially. Pictures seen here are visible in full size further down – simply click on any of them to enlarge and view.
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- Beginning in the early-1960s, straight parallel spokes replaced criss-crossing ones that had been popular in the 1950s. Two- or three-prong spinners similar to ones on MGs, Jaguars, and other sports cars were fitted on many to create a performance look. (1967 AMC Marlin shown)
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- Because 1950s cross-laced spokes were seen as old-fashioned by the early ’60s, such wire wheel covers like these were rare during the 1960s. This particular design was licensed on 1962-63 Chevrolet Corvairs and 1963-on Studebaker Avantis.
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- 1962-63 Chevrolet Corvair 14-inch wire wheel cover.
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- A 1962 Chevrolet Corvair with wire wheel covers seen in the prior photo.
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- For 1963, little changed on the Corvair. Wire wheel covers remained the same.
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- Although the wire wheel covers in the previous two pictures were never an original option on full-size Chevys, this 1963 Impala convertible owner retrofitted them.
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- Studebaker also licensed the same wire wheel covers used by Chevrolet for their 1963 Avanti.
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- Buick was one of the first car makes to bring back wire wheel covers in the 1960s with a new parallel, straight spoke design for 1963 on their newly introduced Riviera model.
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- A better view of a Buick Riviera equipped with wire wheel covers shown in the previous photo. These ran through 1966. Here, a 1963 model is shown.
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- Here, a 1966 Buick Electra is equipped with the 1963-66 style 15-inch wire wheel covers shown in the prior two photos.
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- Like Buick, Ford also introduced its own version of a more up-to-date wire wheel cover for 1963. This wire wheel with 3-pronged spinner cap was optional on Falcon and Fairlaine models.
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- A fully loaded 1963 Ford Fairlaine wagon with new style wire wheel covers shown in the previous photo.
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- A 1963 Ford Fairlaine coupe with wire wheel covers shown in the previous two photos.
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- A better view of a 1963 Ford Falcon convertible equipped with wire wheel covers shown in the previous three photos
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- Chevrolet added this 15-inch wire wheel cover design as optional equipment on its Impala from 1964-66.
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- A 1964 Chevrolet Impala equipped with 15-inch wire wheel covers.
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- A 1965 Chevrolet Impala equipped with 15-inch tri prong spinner wire wheel covers.
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- A 13-inch version of the Chevrolet Impala SS wire wheel cover was offered on Corvair models from 1965-66.
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- A 1965 Chevrolet Corvair convertible with spinner wire wheel covers.
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- A ’65 Chevrolet Corvair van with 14-inch spinner wire wheel covers
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- Oldsmobile also offered a 14-inch wire wheel cover for 1964-66. Unlike Chevrolet’s, this version had only a two-prong spinner cap for its midsize Cutlass from 1964-65. Buick also offered this identical wheel cover on its Skylark.
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- A full view of a 1965 Oldsmobile F-85 Cutlass equipped with the 14-inch wire wheel covers shown in the previous photo.
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- A better view of a 1964 Buick Skylark equipped with the Buick version of the 14-inch wire wheel covers shown in the two previous pictures.
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- When the 1964 Ford Mustang was introduced as a new model, these wire wheel covers featuring a blue center, Mustang horse logo, and 3-prong spinner cap were optional from 1964-66.
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- A better view of a 1964 Ford Mustang convertible equipped with the 1964-66 spinner style wire wheel covers.
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- American Motors and Rambler offered this wire wheel cover on their models beginning in 1965.
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- Full view of a 1965 AMC Marlin equipped with wire wheel covers shown in the previous photo.
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- A 1966 AMC Ambassador equipped with the optional American Motors/Rambler wire wheel covers shown previously.
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- 1965 was the first model year Mercury offered wire wheel covers. They were available with or without the 3-pointed spinner piece in the center.
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- While all 1965 Mercury wire wheel covers featured spoke patterns shown in the prior photo, some featured black centers and some featured red ones.
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- A 1965 Mercury Comet convertible with “black center” wire wheel covers
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- Oldsmobile 14-inchj wire wheel covers received spinners for 1966.
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- A better view of a 1966 Oldsmobile Cutlass equipped with the 14-inch wire wheel covers shown in the prior photo.
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- As the 1960s progressed, automakers kept the same wire wheel cover parallel spoke design but did away with spinner center caps. This 1966 Ford wire wheel cover is an example.
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- A wider view of the wire wheel cover seen in the previous picture (1966 Ford Galaxie coupe shown).
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- For 1967-68, Chevrolet deleted the spinner caps from their 15-inch wire wheel cover offered on full-size models.
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- A 1968 Chevrolet Impala with 15-inch wire wheel covers shown in the prior photo.
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- Chevrolet also deleted the spinner caps from their 14-inch wire wheel cover offered on 1967 intermediate models.
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- A wider view of the 14-inch Chevrolet wire wheel covers, as seen on a 1967 Camaro.
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- Mustang wire wheel covers from 1967-71 used the 1965 Mercury design. Blue center logos and spinner caps from earlier years were replaced with plain red centers.
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- A better view of 1968 Ford Mustang equipped with the red center wire wheel covers shown in the prior photo.
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- For the new ’67 Cougar, Mercury fitted their wire wheel covers introduced two years earlier. These saw continued use through 1971.
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- For 1967, Oldsmobile and Buick continued to use the same 14-inch wire wheel cover introduced in 1964. This year’s version dropped spinner caps from the center altogether.
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- A closer view of a 1967 Oldsmobile Cutlass with 14-inch wire wheel covers.
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- Buick offered these 15-inch wire wheel covers on full-size LeSabre and Wildcat models from 1967-70.
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- Buick offered this 15-inch wire wheel cover design on 1968-70 Electra models.
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- Here, a 1966 Buick Electra is retrofitted with 1968 style 15-inch wire wheel covers.
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- A 1969 Buick Electra convertible fitted with 15-inch factory wire wheel covers.
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- Pontiac offered this 14-inch wire wheel cover on its intermediate size models from 1968-69.
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- A 1968 Pontiac LeMans with wire wheel covers seen in the prior photo.
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- Side view of a 1968 Pontiac LeMans with wire wheel covers seen in the prior two photos.
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- Some owners removed the center cap of the 1968 GM 14-inch wire wheel covers, or painted over it to match the color of their vehicle.
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- Oldsmobile offered this version of the GM 14-inch wire wheel cover for 1968. They were basically the same as other divisions, but featured a different center cap.
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- Late to jump on the 1960s wire wheel cover band wagon, Plymouth offered this design on midsize 1968-69 Barracudas and Valiants.
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- A wider view of a 1968 Plymouth Barracuda equipped with the wire wheel covers seen in the prior photo.
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- A 1968 Plymouth Valiant promotional picture featuring the wire wheel covers shown in the prior two photos.
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- For 1969, Oldsmobile kept the ’68 style wire wheel cover but changed the center cap to this style.
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- Here, a 1969 Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser wagon is seen equipped with the 14-inch wire wheel covers shown in the prior photo.
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- Chevrolet offered this 14-inch wire wheel cover on 1969 midsize models such as the Chevelle, and smaller Nova.
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- By the end of the 1960s, American Motors had also ditched the spinner caps on the center of its wire wheel covers for a more conservative look such as these. (Shown: 1969 AMC Ambassador limousine)
