I'm looking for wheel centers for a 65 Cat. These are the beautiful red grounded center caps with the black wildcat Logo. i would take just the badges or the whole assembly in the chrome shroud. Or I would take the insert badges from hub caps, these are approx - 2-15/16" diameter outside the badge with the 4 lugs The Lugs are approx 3-1/8" outside diameter I'm holding one in the picture, but its in rough shape. i am aware of the rarity of these, but somebody gotta have some in better shape than mine
I have 3 of the hubcap centers that will need to be cut. These are very near NOS if not NOS. This would make a complete set with Wildbills. I will let them go for what I paid at least 10 years ago. That was $125 each. I'm sure you know these are one year only for the medallions and the hupcaps. You probably already know this but, there are two clips on the aftermarket medallion rings. I don't remember which size is correct. Your wheels most likely won't be '65 originals and the road wheel openings vary from year to year. Buy the clips to match your wheels. If you need clearer pictures I can take them outside and text directly to you. I also have other grades that aren't as nice. My BIG warning is that the aftermarket medallion screw heads are big and may not let the clips seat properly into the wheels. I lost a medallion I made from a NOS red center. It was an expensive and painful mistake. Make sure the medallion fully seats securely in your road wheels. I actually had locks made for my current set. You can't get them off without taking the wheel off. I had to buy several lunches to talk my mechanic buddy into making them. That was lunches plus his rate. There isn't much clearance on the front hubs, they extend well into the wheel. Shout out to @Topcat......the locked medallion set sits a NOS set of road wheels I got from the MAN! Thanks!
Here's something else to do with the centers. That's a Riviera wood wheel painted black with the Wildcat center. We made two versions. Those are NOS centers. They photograph terribly. Below, the one on the right is one modeled after a TOPCAT original.
the steering wheel is so nice mate, the one with the radiused edge is a stunner. Do you sell these? - I work in computer aided engineering and have the logo drawn up as a 3D model. Its a faithful reproduction of the logo, but the finer details like the resin dome I wouldn't know how to get done. The model looks really nice, and its now possible to machine them or 3d print them, this is my option if i cant source the originals. The hub cap centers in the above post are a little different to what i have already, they were not in a shroud like those, and the medallion comes out, the medallion itsekf is just over 3" diameter.
Have to tell the story of how I got my set of 1965 center caps for my 1968 ....first time I saw them on this site, I thought, ''GOT to have these, never mind the concours judging, these are by far the nicest''.... I did a search of all North American Craigslist city sites circa 2014 using ''onecraigs.com'' and the results threw up a listing for a whole load of Chevy parts in Anchorage Alaska...I was a bit baffled when I clicked on the advert as it was a real long list of a mish-mash of mosly 70s and 80s parts, nothing for Buicks.....but right down the bottom was ''set of 5 Buick Wildcat center caps...1960s.....not sure what year ... $125'' and it was like photo 22 in a gallery of 24-25 parts images. Well I rang the guy instantly on my cellphone and spent the first 5min having to convince hm I was not some scammer with a weirdest Nigerian accent on the planet..... I paypal'd him the money the moment I got off the phone and they arrived two weeks later, all mint.
Very nice score Kiwidave! I wish I would have found that. Doomsday I assume you want to end up with '65 road wheel centers like below? The centers in my first post are for '65 hubcaps. That's what the center in this picture started with. When you talk about using the insert from a hubcap I assumed you were talking about a '65 hubcap. I guess you were talking about from a '67 Wildcat, like this. I've never tried to use those to make a '65 road wheel center. I have this one and a black one. At least I think these are from a '67. These are different than the '65. The '65 is flat and these "bulge" or are "domed" for lack of a better word. I was saving this for a steering wheel....but forgot I even had it. It has flaking of the red background around the "B" and the "L". I'd sell it for $40. ]
Hi pal. I’m sorry, yes your exactly right, I am trying to make a set for my 65 and yep the wheels on my car are not all the same. But I’m in the process of getting whatever I can to make a set. The 67 domed medallion is exactly what I need (even though it’s not factory correct). I will have it if that’s ok. I will message you. Thanks buddy. I still need more of these domed medallions if anybody has any.
Here is what i have if you are interested.....Bonehead described the differences correctly.....one is NOS perfect and the other looks to be original 65 but missing edges... $40.00 shipped for both if you are in the lower 48. Peace WildBill
