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The look I wanted was one that appeared stock, but somehow good. You know how some cars just sit a little nicer than they should.
I decided to I wanted to keep the stock wheel appearance, but in 1967 they sat the car on 14x6 wheels with a 3 inch backspacing. It kept them tucked nicely out of the way and surely kept the side of the car cleaner in the rainy weather and on the gravel/dirt roads.
I didn't feel these reasons carried enough importance for what my car was going to be used for,which was definitely not a daily driver. It was only coming out when the weather was expected to be good, and would probably never see dirt and gravel roads.
Buick made the series 57 in a 15x7, but with a 3 1/2" backspacing. If you can find a good set of these, they should fit nicely without any fender mods.
57 Series Buick Style (Chrome) | |||
No. |
Spacing |
Circle |
Spacing |
57-4634032 | 14x6 | 4 3/4 | 3 1/2 |
57-473404 | 14x7 | 4 3/4 | 4 |
57-4834042 | 14x8 | 4 3/4 | 4 1/2 |
57573404 | 15x7 | 4 3/4 | 4 |
57-5834042 | 15x8 | 4 3/4 | 4 1/2 |
57-503405 | 15x10 | 4 3/4 | 5 |
Well, they almost fit!!!
After mounting, there was enough clearance to take it for a test drive and see if it was enough. As with most cars there was about a 1/8 difference from one side to the other. When I hit the right bump, I could get the odd scuffing noise. Oh well, back to the shop for some fitting.
In the fender area that required modification, you have the inner and outer fenders overlapping and the stainless covering. I removed the stainless.
I figured about a 1/4" more clearance would be enough. There was two ways to accomplish this. One way is to simply cut or grind away the offending material. It leaves an edge which can still scrap and cut tires should they ever come in contact.
I chose to use a hammer and dolly and roll the lip up. This gave a nice OEM look and a rounded edge that would be much less likely to ever damage a tire even if it came in contact.
Of course they don't make a dolly for this purpose, so I just grabbed a width of flat steel that I thought would give me adequate clearance when the job was done. I used a 5/8". I welded a chunk of scrap to it for a handle and to increase the wight. You'd have a tough time rolling this double lip with a body hammer, I use a modest sized ball pien hammer. Once the lip was rolled to about 45 degrees, stopped using the dolly and continued to tap it till it was verticle. When tapping just use lots of light taps moving along the surface so as to gently roll the lip.
I then screwed the trim back on and tapped it to show exactly where to continue it roll. I clamped a piece of 1/2" plate in a vise and finished rolling it up, then remounted it and re drilled the two holes which had been moved around the edge.
Now that picture shows how well the fenders are filled!