Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Automotive bling

One day two years ago, I discovered the variety of wheel covers/wheel rims/wheels one sees on cars nowadays. And a wonderful world of bling it was. One more way to dress up one's ride to make it more stylish than the next guy's. This wasn't the sort of thing that the LH and I worried about on our muddy, dusty Subes that took us through the Arizona bush and so the entire concept was quite new to me.

What a far cry from the wire wheels that would have adorned an MG 40 years ago!

All I can say about the following series of 6-7 pictures is that they vary -- and I don't think any are the sort that continue spinning once your car is stopped.






Ah, yes, there is some attempt to achieve the wire wheel look (above, below) for your higher priced motor cars. And, of course, the price of wheel covers for your car goes up with status. One site I checked offered wheel covers ranging from $40-50 for an everyday vehicle, $178-250-ish for your BMW and some $200-350 for the Caddie (except older models, one for a mere $75).


Another consideration: bright shiny chrome instead of the brushed metal or matte look.



And you might want to consider the appearance of speed (above, below). By the way, you ought to take a look at the various wheels when cars start up or slow down, though you may get dizzy! For that matter, I achieve the same effect by rapidly scrolling down through the pictures here.



Periodically, I come across poor lost orphan wheels. A pricey matter, that. One gone and it's time to buy a complete new set.


Will all this bling disappear in the new world Michelin is introducing with its see-through air-free tires? I doubt it, sincerely. Too many people have their self-images tied up in the appearance of their rides.

Linkage: To Americans, the Family Circus is a comic strip... to Germans, a family circus is the real thing: a small, 1-ring entertainment that is largely the enterprise of a single family of many talents, according to World Photos2, with a three-post series on the subject. And you might like to take a look at the inner basin of Red Mountain, up on the plateau between Flagstaff and Williams. It's mighty interesting.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Some of the 'bladed' wheel ornaments would appear to be handy for chopping cabbage for slaw.

Hermano

Lucy said...

Wow!

I'd not seen those airless see through things before...

Anonymous said...

I was following a car once that made two turns and had two hubcap fly off. I flashed my headlights at him and when he pulled over a third popped off. As I drove by I pointed behind me and the driver just nodded. Guess they were new and didn't fit snug. He acted like it wasn't the first time.

Thanks for the circus mention. It's now six posts and the final one went up today.

quilteddogs said...

Have you seen the spinning hubcaps? Those fascinate me and I have to shake myself out of a daze after watching them spin.

TomboCheck said...

Wow, that is a lot of rims you got there!

Personally I've never understood the aftermarket rim thing.... But then again I don't understand a lot of the auto aftermarket selections these days.

Granny J said...

bro -- sometimes I think you have cabbage on your mind!

lucy -- aren't they something else? I wonder what they're like on the back roads.

steve -- I found your little circus a charming entertainment of a type that we've long lost in our demand for more and more elephans, lions and tigers.

QD -- I've only seen them once our in the world and several times at WalMart

tombo -- it's all bling to me.

 
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