STEELIES with BEAUTY RINGS...any production info? Option code?

[ChargerBill]

Lately I have been seeing a lot of Chargers with body color steelies, dog dish and trim rings. I have seen the steelie with do dish set-up many times for years now, but I'm wondering why so many with trim rings lately? Was it an oriinal option and if so, in what years? Is it a "fad" right now? Are the trim rings factory items? Also, will other brand or aftermarket rim rings work? And what size (thickness) were the OEM trim rings? I personally think they look cool and I am considering them, but I kind of want to know the specifics first.

Oh yeah, if you have PICS of Chargers/Mopars with steelie/dog dish/trim ring combos it would be great to see them.

[hemi68charger]

Hey Bill.
I think it's a fad. As far as I know, the only model that came with trim rings on steelies and hub caps was the Challenger TA. I believe the 'Cuda AAR all came factory with 15x7 Rallyes.  I have never seen an original hub cap/steelie B-body with trim rings......

Troy

[ChargerBill]

Well that's a bummer. As much as I like it, I wouldn't want to do something that was incorrect. The only thing that baffles me a bit is that when I went to Mopars in the Park in Sacramento this summer there was an old guy with an "all original" '69 Hemi Charger and his had beauty rings with steelies. He claimed it was stock, but now I kind of wonder. If I was doing Torque Thrusts I wouldn't worry about it "looking" original, but since i'm doing steelies I'd like it to at least look correct.

[hemigeno]

Bill,

I think the reason that the old guy with the "all original" HemiCharger has trim rings on his wheels is likely because the dealer put them there - either at the request of the buyer, or just to try and dress up the wheels in order to make an easier sale.   I've heard of another 69 HemiCharger with that same treatment.   Ya gotta remember that in '69 (I think that was the first year that trim rings came out), the Kelsey-Hayes cast aluminum wheels were intended to be the feature wheel on upscale Hemicars.   Chargers would have fallen into the category of an upscale ride, since they weren't considered stripped down models like the Runner or 'Bee.

Since the recall of the cast aluminum wheels (which still defies logic, since all they had to do was retorque the lug nuts after 100/500 miles and the wheels would be just fine), that pretty much left only 15" steelies with either dog dish hubcaps or the not-too-nifty turbine-style hubcaps similar to those used on the A100s and Tradesmen vans.   Ugh.

Although you won't see it in a brochure anywhere, I'm sure some creative dealers thought about how to dress up the Taxi-esque steelies & dog dish combinations.   A trim ring would have been a simple add-on deal, so I suspect that more than one car was sold new with that combo.   Starting in '70, the Rallye wheels were an option, so it wasn't as big of a deal to try and dress up a nicely-optioned Hemicar.

[ChargerBill]

Well, that makes more sense...dealer installed. Would that mean that beauty Rings were a Chrysler part, or are they generic enough that any brand might have fit at the time? It kind of looks like the Trim Rings from standard Ralley wheels would work....

So, what are your guys opinions? What do you think of the way these cars look?

[jgbailey57]

I'm thinking about doing that to my charger, minus the rings and caps.  I need to find some 8" wheels for the rear, did those come factory on anything or do they have to be specially made?

[hemigeno]

I'm thinking about doing that to my charger, minus the rings and caps.   I need to find some 8" wheels for the rear, did those come factory on anything or do they have to be specially made?

Late 70's Ramchargers had an 8" stamped steel wheel.  The Aspen Super Coupe cars had 8" wheels too, but I don't think those were a stamped steel wheel.

Not to worry though, since I think Stockton Wheel makes whatever size steelie you need.