the not-so full wheel covers

[factorystock]

Originally Posted by special-K

I figured '75 was the last year for painted hub caps. That was the last year for the style that ran from '69. I have never seen a painted 76-91 hub cap. What did a painted 76-78 hub cap look like? Were they the same as the bright stainless caps? Was '78 the last year for painted bumpers?(...until the W/T series years late)

Hubcaps are an interesting subject. The carryover '69 design style did end in 1975 on deluxe models. Starting in 1976 deluxe models came with the flat aluminum hubcaps.However base models continued to use the similar '69 style white painted hubcaps up untill 1978. White painted front bumpers ended in 1981.As I mentioned on earlier thread, not many base model trucks were sold in the mid to late 70's, loaded down trucks with aluminum hubcaps were the norm. There is a factory photo of a 1977 Custom Deluxe 20 (base model) with standard white painted hubcaps(similar to the '69 thru '72 hubcaps but gold bowtie not blue and concave not convex. Looks like it has the optional chrome front bumper, but would have came painted white bumper standard.