<VV> Hands Wheels and Clark's repros

[Larry Forman]

Hi Smitty,
If it is a secret, Clark's would be VERY upset, since I saw it maybe a year ago RIGHT INSIDE their mailed ad of specials and new offerings.  That is certainly an expensive way to contain a secret!  LOL.  I hope that others will call Clark's and tell them that they too want the Hands replicas and for them to keep them in stock.

However, I suspect that they might have only ordered enough to mate up with their spinners that Bill Devin made for them.  Clark's might not be too inclined to stock more, since the next question is who can supply the spinners.  BTW, when I visited with Bill Devin three weeks before he died, I held the mold for those spinners in my hand.  He mentioned at that time that was the only mold for producing those spinners and that he also sold the spinners to Clark's.  I am sure it is now in the hands of the group of Beverly Hills attorneys who purchased Bill's Devin stock and molds for their Devin SS cars.  Us poor Corvair owners stand little chance of seeing any of the parts made off that mold.  Not that another mold could not be created if there was sufficient demand.

As for how exact a copy is it, I haven't looked very closely to tell YET.  I purchased a set of Hands wheels with 5 bolt holes for Stingers from Bill when I was there with the intent on converting them to four holes for the Devin C.  That is not practical, nor desirable, so I am planning on keeping them for one of my Late convertibles.  It will be fine for that car.  Since it is a Hands 14 inch and the Clark's is a 13 inch, there might be some differences due to that alone, being a different mold size, of course.  One day when I think about it, I will compare the two wheels.  I can tell you that I was quite pleased looking at the wheels that arrived.  If anyone is interested, they should give Clark's a call.  I guess I already said that.

-- Larry

----- Original Message -----
From: "Smitty Smith" <vairologist at verizon.net>
To: virtualvairs at corvair.org
Subject: <VV> Hands Wheels
Date: Fri, 13 Jan 2006 14:57:38 -0800 (PST)

>      Larry Said
> If Clark's had not gotten these as repros (so I would not have to 
> have them restored and polished), I would be right there in the 
> feeding frenzy with you guys. As it is, the set of four wheels from 
> Clarks is FABULOUS! Check them out. Brand new and ready to show!
>    --------------------------------------------
>    Smitty says:  Must be one of their better kept secrets.  They 
> obviously let you in on the secret though, so are they exact 
> replicas or just something that looks similar, but isn't?  When you 
> want a Hope diamond you don't go down on the lower end of Mail 
> street and buy one that looks kinda like it.