Rod & Custom magazine has been running a series of articles on the history of aftermarket wheels.
Part 3 of the series is in the latest issue and it has some interesting information.
According to the article and in a nutshell, sometime in the early '60s a guy named Dick Rader joined forces with well known racer and speed parts maker Mickey Thompson and began producing aftermarket custom wheels in Long Beach CA under the name Wheel Corp of America. It was Rader and Wheel Corp that first produced what was to become the infamous XR7-G wheel. It originally was called the “Space Age Wire Wheel Look Rader” and it was one of the first alloy wheels that attempted to replicate the look of wire wheels, in a much more low-maintenance form.
Originally, Trans American Products (also in Long Beach) was a custom wheel distributor that began to sell knock-offs (copies) of already existing wheels. This was very common at the time. Lots of different manufactures sold their own versions of American Racing Torque-Thrusts, Cragars, etc.
Trans Am’s knock-off of the “Space Age…” was an exact copy and was simply called the “Rader”.
Attached is the pic from the article.
Fascinating stuff. Makes you wonder how many of the original Wheel Corp “Raders” were manufactured and if, since Mickey Thompson was involved, the quality was better.
I’m not a GM guy so I don’t know. I’ve never heard that before but that is exactly what happened when those wheels were supposed to be the stock wheel for the '68 XR7-G.
Interesting that Trans American Product’s pilfered that wheel design, got two big contracts from GM and Mercury and then blew it.
They were probably a lot cheaper than the wheel’s original manufacturer, the Mickey Thompson owned Wheel Corp.
I’m reviving this topic after some continued research and more accurate info coming to light. I’ll also post some pics and ads I’ve collected.
To begin with Wheel Corp. of America, Wheel T/R Corporation of America and Trans-American Products were all variations of the same company, with name changes necessitated by business relationships going sour and financial troubles with the I.R.S.
Dick Rader Jr. was a mechanical engineer that started a speed shop and designed his first wheel. It became so popular that he founded Wheel Corp. of America and began adding new wheel designs to their offerings.
The business was so successful that famed racer and builder Mickey Thompson bought in (resulting in a name change to Wheel T/R Corporation of America) and the company really took off, with deals with Sears and popular custom car builder George Barris.
The relationship with Thompson soured but sales remained strong. Unfortunately, soon after expending a lot of money buying Thompson out, some I.R.S. trouble hit. Wheel Corp. was dissolved and Trans-American Products was created. This was around 1965. Around 1966 after another business partnership soured the Raders left the business. It was under its new ownership that the serious quality control issues and loss of sales happened and Trans-American Products went bankrupt in 1974.
Of course, in '67/'68 the deal was struck with Shelby Automotive to supply the spoked wheel design for the XR7-G Cougars, but by then the manufacturing flaws had taken hold and the rest, as they say, is history.
George Barris’ relationship with Ford and the impact it had on Ford and Mercury styling is fascinating. Growing up in the '60s and '70s and being captivated by the factory pony and muscle cars of the day meant playing with Hot Wheels and slot cars and building model kits. Custom television and movie cars were extremely popular (think Batmobile, Munster Coach, Monkeemobile, etc.) and the auto manufacturers were very aware of that. As was common in those days, Ford had Barris customize some of their vehicles which they toured and displayed in an effort to generate excitement among young car enthusiasts. Since Barris had a deal with Rader Wheels, a lot of his customs, most of them really, featured Rader mags. I will post some pics of Barris customs with the “Wire Wheel Look” Rader that was originally specified for the XR7-G.
I’m sure it was Barris’ use of these wheels, particularly on some of the show cars that he built for Ford that put that wheel on their radar (pun intended) when Mercury needed a simulated wire wheel for the G as originally requested by Hertz Rent-A-Car.
Other instances where Barris likely influenced Ford styling are:
The use of Cougar tail lights on the '67 Shelby Mustang. This was a modification Barris had already performed and an article was even published on how his shop performed the mod.
Barris hooked Amercan Sunroof up with Ford. ASC rented space at Barris Kustom City and you can see their sign on the front of the building in vintage photos. Mercury contracted with ASC to install sunroofs in some '67 Cougars, leading to it becoming a factory option offered on '68 Cougars.
Somewhat ironically, considering the problems that the original Rader wheels had caused for Shelby, Shelby (who also had a company that made and sold custom wheels) introduced a wheel of their own that’s design was obviously inspired by the Rader spoked mag.
I would love to find a set of these. I’ve asked in Shelby circles and so far no one has come forward that have seen any. I’m sure they are out there somewhere.
