I'm afraid to admit this, but when I was in high school (90-95), I lusted after a thirdgen with the American Racing teardrop style wheels. These things were all the rage back then, at least in my geographical area. They must have been one of the shortest fads ever, because I can't even find any decent pics of them on the Internet, nor can I find their model number. This is about the only pic I can find:

 

You can see those on trucks alot, at least in the midwest. I have a very good friend that's a tire dealer, and he told me that all these old directionals (like mine above) used to be called "batmans". Maybe try that out?

 

Here are some pics I've found over time:

Gottis:




BBS RS:


BBS RS Knock-offs:




Kinesis wheels, I believe these may be a more 90's style but they were big in the 80s/90s if I remember correctly:


Here's what I think is an earlier Boyd Coddington mesh wheel from the 90s:


Epsilon Mesh:


ARE Style 222:




Look much better on my dad's old car with the insets painted black:

 

love those gottis

 

Some of those rims are actually very popular today. In particular the cross lace BBS or BMW style rim with the deep dish.

 

my uncle gave them to me after 14 years of sitting in the back of the garage when he had them on his old monte ss

 

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/exte...ml#post6018274

 

 

American Racing. Not sure of the model name. Came on my car when I bought it.

 

Looks like a C4 wheel with center caps

 

Thats what I thought they were until I noticed the American Racing logo on them. Original owner of the car bought them the same year he bought the car. I have replaced them with the stock wheels.

 

Ignore the 2nd gen they are on, but the first set are BBS 3 piece Magnesium wheels, the second are a set of Cragar Fan Stars that replaced the BBS wheels - love those!

 

Thread revival. If you want to see a lot of cool 80s-90s wheels, you're better off browsing BMW/VW/Audi/Porsche forums. They seem to pursue these styles and then put the effort into restoring, rebuilding and running them. But here are some pictures I've come across...

17x9 BBS RS on the Pontiac Firefox concept:

 

BBS RS style (possibly replicas) on a 91-92 Z28:

 

Gottis.

 

BBS RS on a Trans Am concept.

 

And race cars...

Passmenow's car on BBS race wheels, with some TURBOFANS mixed in!







The Levi Garrett Car, look like a BBS race wheel of some sort:





Misc. IMSA Cars/Camaros:

 

There are a lot of new retro-inspired wheels out there.

I think these would look great on a Pontiac. They are by fifteen52 and called m_u_l_l_e_t_s, obviously inspired by 80s Pontiac 20 slot wheels. Three piece design:





Rotiform IDKs are another take on the concept:



Livery Procars would go great on an 82 bird. These are inspired by BMW M1 wheels of the 80s:



Rotiform BMI is similar:



Rotiform LHR - a 3 piece take on the classic 80s cross lace. Here's your 18, 19, 20" Pontiac GTA wheel:



Rotiform has a few that are part Lambo Countach, part Porsche 928. Not sure if a thirdgen could pull them off, but would be fun to see:





I really wish these wheels would work, but not sure if they will look the part on a thirdgen. Fifteen52 tarmacs, a take on the old rally style wheels. Really evokes those late 80s/early 90s rally cars for me. They sell them in silver and white:

 

Corvette on Gottis:

 

Epsilon Mesh (may also be Epsilon Southern Ways):





SSR offers a similar wheel:

 

Strosek Wheels - an 80s aftermarket take on Porsche Phone Dials:

 

A favorite of mine, Autostrada Modenas. These are an aftermarket copy of Ferrari F40 wheels. Very hard to find, and when you do, they've probably been re-drilled, barreled, lipped, etc. to fit something very different than a Camaro/Firebird:



The wheels they're copying:

 

Would also love to see a thirdgen with color matched Porsche 993 Turbo Twists and some good brakes behind them:

 

These are very cool!

I can see a set of those on your car!

 

I had found a set that would fit a third gen, but I just didn't have the money for them. Those are the wheels I want for my car, those or ACS Type 1s.

 

I love them, but they're very hard to come by, especially with all the parts (center caps and so on). And once you find them, you have to redrill them for 5x120.65, refinish them, maybe even enlarge the center bore depending upon which set of centers you find. This is assuming you find centers that haven't already been redrilled and refinished several times over. There's a set of centers for sale in the UK right now...

Was it a complete set, or one you could at least work with to redrill, re-barrel and re-lip? Are they still out there?

ACS Type 1s are cool wheels. I know guys run the 5x120 BMW pattern no issues, but I'd either do adapters or redrill.

 

MTechnica is another company making retro-inspired wheels.

I think these Turbo Wheels would look at home on a Firebird Formula or an 82-84 bird:


I love their Aero series. Flow-Formed 2 piece using BBS RS lips. It evokes some of the 80's multi-spoke race wheels:



Here's a rendering of my car with them in 17":


Their Monza wheels are cool as well, especially for a Trans Am. It's the mesh wheel on the left:

 

A couple more I found:

Twin_Turbo's car on Work Equip wheels (an old JDM style wheel). Still made today. Looks good!



Grey Goose's Camaro on Speedline Alessios. Common on 80s/90s Porsches and Ferraris.

 

 

Some awesome finds here from a shop in Brazil. First, some BBS RS. These appear to be 17x8 in stock offsets. I think they'd look better in 17x9 or wider, but it's an interesting look:









[img]https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=306970&d=1475386511[img]





Video:


Restoration pics here:

http://galpaoz28.com.br/rides/jps/_galeria.html

 

Next up, some Borbet Type As in 18x8.5. Looks like 265/654VR18 Pirelli tires on them. I don't know how that sidewall sizing convention translates to US labeling, but my guess is 265/35/18. These were common on VW, Audis, and Mercedes Benz:













Video:


Build webpage, about 145 photos here:

http://galpaoz28.com.br/rides/wd/_galeria.html

 

These are "Old School".
I don't know if that counts.....

 

I fell in love with yellow IROCs when someone in my old neighborhood bought a new one in 1986. The car was always perfectly spotless and he ran BBS type wheel in the factory 16 x 8 size.

 

BBS RS are definitely period correct for the thirdgen. The Goodwood C4 Corvettes used them, and I've seen some regular C4 Corvettes running them. Far more common on 80s/90s European cars, though.

There were also a lot of replicas out there, too. ARE made these (style 398):





I think that black and gold Camaro looks okay, but the fitment could be much more aggressive. It'd be a big difference simply running 17x9s with 275 rubber and the extra width coming from the lip (dish) area.

It looks like they went with 17x8, and they almost appear to have more backspacing than the factory 16x8. This is a real easy fix, too - they can just buy replacement lips with more dish.

Here's a 17x8.5 with a more aggressive lip:



I've been considering BBS RS for my car... just not sure and they're expensive as you have to custom build them.

 

One of the only pics I have of my old 86 TA, sporting Centerline Champ 500s

 

Very period correct, reminds me of something you'd see on an 80s/90s prostreet drag car.

 

Another style of Gotti wheels:

 

Work, who originally made the Autostrada line, has a new 2 piece wheel derived from the Autostrada Modena / Ferrari F40 wheel. It's called the Seeker SX:

 

The one on the right.

 

13 inch j55 just barely fit with a small spacer shim.

 

Reviving this thread because it's so cool. Era specific wheels with a modern touch is just perfect imo