Being OCD comes in handy sometimes, but in some cases it can be really difficult to deal with. Things get caught in my head and I can’t let them go until they are right or done.
Wheels. Not fancy wheels, just plain stock steel wheels. Simple, right?
Wrong.
Turns out Mustang buyers had some options when it came to the wheels on their car. I believe in 1969 there were 11 options. Of course, not all of those were available on Donna. She came with plain stock steel wheels and 5 spoke wheel covers which were unique to 1969. The wheels are 14″ in diameter and 5″ wide between the flanges where the tire mounts (they are about 6″ wide overall.) The wheel is mounted using 5 lug nuts and the circle the lug nuts are in is 4.5″. This is referred to a 14×5 wheel with a 5×4.5 PCD (pitch center diameter.) The wheels also have 3.5″ of backspacing.
So with the wheels off and the tires removed we found out we had 3 different wheels. We had 3 welded rims, 1 riveted rim, and the spare was a style wheel. Since we have 3 welded and only 1 riveted, it is safe to assume Donna had the welded rims originally. Also, the 3 welded rims all have the same date code (more about that in a minute.) There are significant differences between the welded and riveted rims:
We needed two more welded rims. So we bought a rim on eBay and were excited to get it. When it arrived it was a 14×6. Bummer.
Back to eBay for another rim and wait for it to arrive….
This time it was correct. Another thing about these wheels is the date code stamped on them. There were only two makers of Ford Steel Wheels, Motor Wheel Corp and Kelsey Hayes.
