[Steve Cassani]

I wrote American Racing on this issue about five years ago. A second generation Torq Thrust was being manufactured. AR did not see a market for a similar design, fitted to a splined shaft. Restorers account for most of the demand for wire wheels. None are interested in fitting an MG or Triumph with wheels that owe their popularity to the muscle cars and hot rods of the sixties. Its a mix of expectations among owners who have nothing in common in their choice of cars.

I did not ask AR about a point that was made to me, back in the day that had Torq Thrust AR wheels an option on street and competition 289 Cobras, using the standard splined hub. Accepting a splined hub into the wheel called for manufacturing short-cuts on the part of AR that would be viewed as a liability today. The center of the wheel was identical to what you would find at the center of a wire wheel. Mating dissimilar surfaces - the wheel aluminum or magnesium, the center steel - was not accomplished with any reliability. It was more of a pressed fit. Add to this fragile interface the added traction of racing tires and the assembly was questionable, at best.

The team cars were fitted with pin-drive hubs early in the transition away from the design and materials of the street car. Photos of Bob Bondurant testing the first 289 chassis to be fitted with a 427 engine show the car at Riverside, leaning severly on wire wheels. The splined hubs resisted the tractive force that time. I have to guess that a close inspection of photos of the sixties drag cars would show the rear hubs were swapped for the familiar five-bolt Ford hubs of the day.

Although the Torq Thrust design is no longer manufactured to receive a splined hub and true knock-off, you can purchase a wheel that is largely faithful to the orginal pattern. Back when I looked into the option, AR stocked a fifteen-inch wheel that bolts to the hub, with a fake knock-off to cover the shaft. This gives you most of what you are looking for.