Original Halibrand GT40 wheels on E-bay

Didn't there used to be a subforum where people could share the news about E-bay auctions that might be of interest?

In any case, I spotted an original set of GT40 Halibrand wheels available right now:

GT40 Halibrand Magnesium pindrive wheels ( set of 4 ):eBay Motors (item 250523779343 end time Nov-08-09 21:37:26 PST)

These are clearly marked as being for the GT40, yet they are lacking the 'wine glass' shape that I normally attribute to such wheels. Is it that the very early, i.e. 1965 GT40 Halibrand wheels didn't have this shape?
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Dave Wood

Lifetime Supporter
While in the body of the text he references GT40, I noticed in the listing there are several vehicles, including Cobra,listed. I am no authority, by any means, but those appear to be Cobra wheels to me.
 
You guys are totally missing my original point. These wheels look like Cobra wheels to me too--yet they are CLEARLY marked (on the back side of the wheel) as GT40 wheels.

So, back to my original question--did the first-generation GT40 wheels lack the ribs that we're accustomed to seeing? I've never seen photos of a genuine GT40 with wheels like these. I agree, they look like Cobra wheels, not GT40. But then what is the explanation for their markings?

Does anybody know?
 

Jim Rosenthal

Supporter
I saw some identical wheels which were in the group of parts from 1040 when it was here. I think they WERE stamped GT40 on the back of the hub area. So, for what it's worth, this set in the listing are not the only ones that look like that...
 
I have a bit of an A-ha here. In an article in the Oct 1966 issue of Road & Track, a detailed technical analysis of the Le Mans-winning GT40 Mk II is offered. There is one line in there:

"New wheels also resulted from the Daytona tests--they have heavily reinforced spiders."

However, a half hour spent poring through books with a magnifying glass (I've got a bad cold, so no New Year's Eve parties for me tonight, so why not look at GT40 books instead!) revealed not one single instance of a GT40 (either flavor) wearing Halibrands that didn't have the reinforcement rib. Shelby was the first to make the move away from wire wheels, and his cars wore rib-equipped Halibrands for the Daytona race in February 1965.

There are no obvious visual differences between those wheels, and the wheels used on the 1966 Mark II cars.

It seems to me that the only difference between the wheels normally fitted to big-block Cobras, and those fitted to the GT40s, is the addition of the strengthening rib on the GT40 wheels.

Yet there are apparently some "GT40" wheels floating around that are lacking those ribs--and those wheels don't appear to have ever been actually installed on a car, at least not one that was raced and photographed?

Curious!
 
Mike, are you sure those ebay wheels don't have the strengthening ribs? The pics aren't that good, and the ribs are painted black and are kind of dirty so it hard to tell from the pics. They don't look like Cobra wheels to me, they seem to have more contour on the "ribs" than the flatter faces of the Cobra ribs - but again, the pics aren't very good. My eyes aren't that good either!
 
Mike, are you sure those ebay wheels don't have the strengthening ribs? The pics aren't that good, and the ribs are painted black and are kind of dirty so it hard to tell from the pics. They don't look like Cobra wheels to me, they seem to have more contour on the "ribs" than the flatter faces of the Cobra ribs - but again, the pics aren't very good. My eyes aren't that good either!

Boy, do I feel stupid! You're right--the ribs are right there, plain as day. I don't know how I possibly overlooked them before???? Now that you mention it, they are quite obvious.

Dumb, dumb, dumb...that's me!

DUH! :goofy::dizzy::loser:
 
Back
Top