What to do about not-reproduced 1966 GMC hubcaps
As much as we all like to gripe when aftermarket suppliers make a part we desperately need only to find it doesn't fit, or is a cheap clone of what we really wanted, there's the aggravation of finding all that other stuff we need that they don't make at all.
When I started in this hobby as a young man 30 yrs ago, I was a 64-66 C10 short bed pickup fan all the way. No ugly knee-knockers, no weird Suburbans or panels, and certainly no also ugly GMC's for me. I honestly don't remember when it all clicked, but gradually as time went on I ended up deciding the knee knocker 60-61 apaches were actually real hidden gems that would one day be seen as not only beautiful, but appreciated as far rarer and more treasured than common 64-66 C10's they made a million of, and that any GMC's at roughly 25% of Chevrolet production figures year over year from 60-66 would always be rarer than Chevy trucks for that simple production difference alone, not to mention how few escaped the crusher between then and now, so the quirky differences between GMC and Chevrolet began to grow on me. I ended up collecting about 10-12 trucks all together, and 4 are 60-62 Apaches and early GMC knee knockers and 2 are 66 Chevys, but the one that kept eluding me was the "Sport Custom" 66 GMC which was a one year only option package which included Charcoal dash top paint, charcoal vinyl door panel covers and matching molded charcoal armrests, charcoal carpeting, and one year only two-tone Charcoal vinyl covered bucket seats. I found about 5 of these rare trucks over my many years but all were dismantled or longbeds and I was only going to be in for a short bed. Finally, last week I found a factory Red and White short bed 66 GMC with the bucket seat interior and bought it. Can't believe it actually. So, knowing the limited number of hoarded NOS and nice less dented original 66 GMC hubcaps left on the planet, I figure if I start spreading the word through all of you now, by the time the truck is coming out of the paint booth I should have a set LOL. Truck has to have chrome ones but I will be buying white and chroming unless I score on a hoarded set someone finds for me.
Any leads on these are appreciated, and I will post more on the truck itself after I retrieve it from out of state in the coming few weeks. Let me know if you find any of these caps or have one on your garage wall etc - Thank you for reading! Steve
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