Authenticating 967 Rally Wheels I have recently received a number of requests from NCRS members, who own 967 Corvettes, regarding 967 rally wheel information. They do not have original wheels and are shopping for correct wheels. They have heard that there may be a way to nail down the probable broadcast code for their cars. Stamps illustrated in this article may also be of interest to Corvette owners of years prior to 967. I have looked at a lot of rally wheels and I wrote articles about them in The Corvette Restorer around 00/00. At that time, I included the disclaimer that I am still including: The information I am about to share is solely my opinion based on observation. The 967 Judging Information Manual allows either DC or DG broadcast codes on wheels. Here is the forensic challenge: Were there other codes? Were there damaged stamps? When were damaged stamps used? Is there additional knowledge to date wheels? Which cars actually got DC wheels? Which cars actually got DG wheels? Which cars got B wheels? If shopping for 967 wheels, you should know what to look for. In 000, I was lucky enough to interview Tom Heck, the director of advanced engineering at Hayes-Lemerz Corporation, in Northville, Michigan. Kelsey Hayes dissolved in the late 980s, and Hayes Wheels acquired the German wheel maker Lemerz in 996 to form the world s largest wheel manufacturing company. Tom took an interest in my project of explaining the unexplainable about 967 stamps. He had contacts with retired Kelsey- Hayes engineers and manufacturing people. These guys told Tom that when a stamp broke, manufacturing went looking for an idle machine, and engineering wrote a temporary change order. When the original machine was fixed, they built what was on the drawing. Lack of DOT enforcement allowed them to take liberties. Kelsey-Hayes did not have the DC stamp ready for the August production of Corvette wheels. The B machine was available, already assigned to the 967 Camaro 4 x 5 drum-brake wheels, and had unused capacity. DB was assigned to the 5 x 5 Chevrolet passenger car with disc brakes. When the DC stamp finally gave up in December 966, the DG machine, assigned to 967 Camaro 4 x 5 SS wheels, was available for two months. So the DG machine was also used for January and February Corvette wheel production. Some June cars have the DC stamp upside down. The pundits say B and DG belong to other carlines, and they are right. It is just that B wheels are also found on September 966 Corvettes and DG wheels are found on early January 967 to mid-march 967 Corvettes. You must dismount a tire to absolutely determine if you have a 5 x 6 JK Corvette rim contour. If you see a 5 tire on a B or DG wheel, you are not looking at a Camaro or Chevy 4 wheel. Tom Heck said it takes a few seconds to punch a valve-stem hole. I have seen and photographed these wheels, and I have talked to owners. NCRS member Bob Wykoff documented the B and DB wheels in the 990s. NCRS member Pete Lindahl confirmed that 5 x 6 JK B wheels are on his Corvette, #476, build date B. (See the chart at the end.) There is some basic knowledge one needs to know about stamps on 967 rally wheels. Rally wheels first appeared on some 967 model GM performance cars, including all Corvettes. There are supposed to be four stamps on the rim hidden by the tire and two stamps on the wheel center. There is another next to the valve stem. Sometimes a stamp will be broken or missing. There are always enough stamps to determine what the wheel is if you dismount the tire. Four Stamps Hidden by the Tire the TRA Stamp The first stamp identifies the inspection of the rim by the Tire and Rim Association. The TRA produced a set of standards that assured tires would fit rims from multiple manufacturers. The numeral 8 in the center of the TRA stamp was originally assigned to the Detroit inspector at Kelsey-Hayes when wheels were made in Detroit. When Kelsey-Hayes manufacturing moved to Romulus, Michigan, the stamp followed unchanged. 7
a magnifier. Better yet, take a high-resolution photo and enlarge it on a computer. Often the stamps were applied at an angle or broken. It took about two weeks for a pallet of wheels to get from Michigan to St Louis. Wheels from the August 966 production run of rally wheels with the B stamp showed up on Corvettes made in the first weeks of September 966. We have never seen a 5 x 6 JK B wheel that was not made in August 966. (Look at the chart at the end of this article.) Kelsey-Hayes Logo The second stamp identifies Kelsey-Hayes as the manufacturer of the wheel. The circular logo stamp contains the words Kelsey Hayes and MADE IN USA. Wheel Size and Rim Contour A third stamp identifies the wheel size. 967 Corvette rally wheels are 5 x 6 JK. 5 is the diameter of the rim where the tire bead sits. 6 is the width of the rim in inches between the beads. JK is the TRA rim contour, which allows an offset for disc brakes. Drum brake mid-year Corvettes had a different rim contour. 5 x 5½ JK is a 966 wheel. Two Wheel Center Stamps On the wheel center are two more stamps visible from the street with the wheel center cap removed. They appear on raised bosses between wheel mounting studs. One stamp is GM identifying General Motors as the end user of the wheel. Sometime in late 966, the G broke and Kelsey Hayes kept using the stamp for several months of production, as DOT did not enforce repair of broken stamps. Looking like a bad 6, the broken G wheel centers have been seen on every 967 Corvette between #5556 and #7905. An intact GM was seen on an April 7-built car, #805, and a broken G was seen again on #9367 built May. Tom Heck explained that Kelsey-Hayes would use wheel centers from a pile containing units from consecutive production runs. A center could be reworked and put back in the pile. The other stamp is a KH, which identifies Kelsey-Hayes as the manufacturer of the wheel. The wheel center stamps were present on all 967 Rally Wheels. Corvette Restorer Winter 00 Rim Assembly Date The final stamp forms the date code of the rim assembly. Hand applied with separate stamps, the month of wheel assembly can be through. The year of assembly can be 66 or a 67. The month and year stamps can be upside down or right side up, at angles or not, next to each other and sometimes broken, illegible, or missing. Become a forensic scientist. It is worth looking at these stamps with 8
Valve Stem Broadcast Code Finally, at the valve stem, a broadcast code was stamped. It is visible from the street with the trim ring removed. This code stamp was part of the tool that punched the valve stem hole. This code identified the carline the wheel was assigned to. On the 967 Corvette rally wheel assembly drawing, the broadcast code is specified as DC. However, the DG broadcast code appears on wheels manufactured in January and February 967. The broadcast code B appears on wheels manufactured in August 966. NCRS member Bob Wykoff documented these 5 x 6 JK B wheels. He also saw some DB wheels. We have not seen a DB wheel dismounted. The DB wheels on Corvettes did not look like 5 x 5 passenger car rims. His research appears in my database. Wheels manufactured in November and December 966 have a broken C, which is barely legible or not at all. The DG stamp chronologically follows the broken DC stamp. An intact DC stamp again follows DG in March 967. The small DC shows up with a date code stamped at the valve stem. These are Corvette service replacement wheels made after December 967 or possibly 968 Camaro Z8 5 x 6 wheels Wheel Paint What color are 967 rally wheels? Original dealer sales handouts show black rims behind the wheel covers and trim rings just like 966 wheels. The black was a lacquer primer applied by Kelsey-Hayes, while the silver topcoat was applied by Corvette in St Louis. The current NCRS owner of 967 #0048 says the car was delivered with black rallys. The wheels were later top coated with silver paint at a shop so they would look like the newer 967 Corvette wheels. The Technical Information Manual calls for argent, another name for silver metallic. The images below are original argent paint with runs, gray argent, white argent, green argent, chrome argent. All are real. All are correct. There were good and bad painters. Wheels were hung from the valve stem hole and washed. Runs are always opposite the stem hole on original wheels, and water is often trapped in the runs. Who knows where Corvette got the paint. 9
I expect you have seen by example how to use my observations to find the correct wheels for a 967 Corvette. The chart below documents wheels observed and links stamps to build days and VINs when available. Corvette Restorer Winter 00 0 Valve Stem Stamp, Wheel Center Stamp, & Assembly Date Chart-967 Corvette Steel Wheels 5 x 6 JK Model Year Build Date VIN Valve Stem Stamps Rim Assy Date Disc Boss Boss Color 3 Qty 4 967 00 v B 5 8 66 KH GM 5 967 B 0 0048 66 KH GM Blk 6 967 0033 v B 8 66 KH GM 5 967 005 v B 8 66 967 005 v B 8 66 KH GM 5 967 B 0059 v B 8 66 KH GM 967 B 5 00893 v B 8 66 KH 967 007 v B 8 66 5 967 03 v B 8 66 KH GM 967 B 046 v B 8 66 KH GM DB KH GM 967 B 0476 Lindahl v B 8 66 KH GM 5 967 0584 Barbieri v B 8 66 KH GM 3 DB DC 9 66 KH KH GM GM 967 B 3 0596 Wykoff v B 8 66 KH GM 4 DC 9 66 KH GM 967 v bb 7 8 66 KH GM 967 0995 v DC 9 66 KH GM 5 967 078 v DG KH GM 4 967 C 04 090 v DbG 8 KH GM 5 small small 967 C6 0333 Staffrd v DC 0 66 KH GM 5 967 Lundberg v DC 0 66 967 048 v DC 9 KH GM 5 967 D03 0970 Mario b v DB KH GM 967 D 03 03046 D Navales v DC KH GM GGM 5 967 v Dx 0 66 KH GM 967 v Dx 66 KH bgm6 967 E 07 05556 v Dx 66 KH bgm6 5 967 F04 07333 Niemann v DG KH bgm6 4 967 v Dx 67 KH bgm6 967 F 0 084 W Nichols v DG 67 KH bgm6 GGM 967 03 09778 Mariano DG 67 KH bgm6 GWS 967 G 7 06 v DG 67 KH bgm6 5 967 inv DG 3 v 67 KH bgm6 967 v DbG 4 3 67 bgm6 967 305 v DC 3 67 KH bgm6 5 967 v DC 3 67 KH bgm6 967 I 7 6359 L Kohler v DbG 4 67 KH bgm6 5 967 7905 Steve Sales DC KH bgm6 5 967 I 7 805 DC 5 4 67 KH GM GWS 5 v DC E 67 967 J 9367 W Bonner v DC KH BGM6 GGM 5 967 K 05 004 v DC KH GM 5 967 K 396 v DC 67 KH GM 967 K 68 inv DC 6 v KH GM 4 967 K 8 97 v DbG 7 5 67 KH GM bdbg 6 67 KH GM 967 940 v DC 8 KH GM 5 67SRP 9 v DC 0 8 67 KH GM BLP 67SRP v DC 67 KH GM 67SRP K8 0 v 7 DC 0 A 67SRP 8 v 5 DC K/8 GM N 67SRP K8 v DC 5 K/8 D 3 67SRP Lundberg K8 v 8DC C
Disc used interchangeably with words wheel center, spider, handhold Boss is raised steel between lugs. 3 FGM flat grey metallic, GGM gloss grey metallic, GWS gloss white silver, GRM greenish metallic, BLP black primer, FBS flat bright silver, BYL bus yellow 4 quantity of wheels available for observation 5 All B wheels observed and logged by NCRS members Robert Wykoff. Additional B wheels confirmed by NCRS member Pete Lindahl. 6 Car known by present owner from 966, bought from original owner by NCRS member in 970. Car was delivered with black wheels; argent topcoat applied by original owner to match newer 967 Corvettes 7 bb= partial B or broken B 8 b means broken 9 described as Big DC 0 Dx means second character illegible Top of G missing, looks like a 6 Stamp height measures 5/6 inch 3 DG left of valve stem and inverted, ¼ inch stamp 4 DbG intact D, missing bar G, looks like a C 5 big DC stamp height ¼ inch; 6 DC left of valve stem and inverted, part of C off radius 7 DbG= intact D, broken bar G; bdbg= broken D, broken bar G 8 DC described as Big DC 9 SRP means service replacement wheel 0 hidden rim date 8 67 hidden rim date 67 little DC 3/6 3 interpreted as 968 =December D=fourth week Wendel Hans NCRS #3085 805 966 654 fax 805 966 06 wjhdyno@aol.com Made to graphic by Vinnie Peters be driven