Sometimes for fun I will plug in the word “Halibrand” into the search function on eBay just to see what pops up. The logic here is that Halibrand wheels themselves are awesome and normally if they are attached to a car, said car will be REALLY flipping awesome. Today I bring to you four wheels, but no car and normally that would be a cause for concern, but when these four wheels alone cost as much as a nice starter project car and have history literally oozing out of their magnesium pores you’ll understand. See, these aren’t just any old Halibrand Indy wheel. No, these are specially commissioned by Andy Granatelli to be used on a limited number of Novi race cars…like the turbine ones. In fact the words Novi Special are cast right into the suckers. This is part of the reason that the seller is looking to get $6,000 out of them. The second part of the reason is that two of the wheels have never so much had a tire mounted to them. Ever.

From the early 1950s right on into the 1960s, EVERY car competing at Indy had Halibrand wheels on them. Not “most cars”…every car for a decade or so was depending on the strength and performance of the magnesium wheels that Ted Halibrand and his workers made. Talk about having a hammer lock on the business. When 1967 was rolling around and Andy Granatelli, flush with STP cash wanted to make a statement he commissioned this design of wheel to be built for his own cars as to set them apart from everyone else.

Here’s what the seller says about them:

WHAT I AM SELLING HERE IS AN ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS SET OF (4) ULTRA RARE VINTAGE ORIGINAL MAGNESIUM HALIBRAND “NOVI SPECIAL” & “STP-PAXTON TURBOCAR” 6-PIN KNOCK-OFF WHEELS THAT I JUST MANAGED TO PUT TOGETHER!  ONE PAIR WAS OBTAINED FROM THE ESTATE OF A FAMOUS OLD INDY-CAR AND SPRINT-CAR RACER…AND THE OTHER PAIR CAME FROM THE INDIANAPOLIS AREA, AND ARE ACTUALLY “NEW OLD STOCK”, AND HAVE NEVER BEEN MOUNTED ON ANY CAR!

FROM WHAT I HAVE LEARNED, IT APPEARS THAT IN THE EARLY 1960’s, WHEN ANDY GRANATELLI BOUGHT THE RIGHTS TO THE FEARSOME “NOVI” ENGINES AND CARS…HE COMMISIONED HALIBRAND TO BUILD SOME UNIQUE MAGNESIUM RACING WHEELS FOR A NUMBER OF HIS UPCOMING ANTICIPATED PROJECTS!  SINCE AT THE TIME MR. GRANATELLI WAS ALSO THE C.E.O. OF “STP”, WHICH OWNED “PAXTON SUPER-CHARGERS”, IT ONLY MAKES SENSE THAT HE WOULD ALSO UTILIZE A SET OF THESE WHEELS ON THE KEN WALLIS DESIGNED “STP-PAXTON TURBOCAR” THAT HE WAS SPONSORING FOR THE 1967 “INDY-500”!

IF YOU KNOW WHAT A “NOVI SPECIAL” OR A “TURBINE CAR” IS, THEN I DON’T NEED TO TELL YOU HOW RARE THESE WHEELS ARE!

WHAT REALLY SURPRISED ME ABOUT THEM IS THE INCREDIBLE CONDITION THAT THEY ARE ALL IN!  I DON’T THINK THAT THE USED ONES WERE EVER RUN IN COMPETITION…AND THE ‘NEW OLD STOCK” ONES ARE JUST THAT…BRAND NEW!  WHAT’S EVEN MORE INTERESTING ABOUT THESE WHEELS IS THE QUALITY OF ALL OF THE CASTINGS!  I HAVE OWNED OVER 1,000 HALIBRAND WHEELS, AND I CAN HONESTLY SAY THAT THESE ARE SOME OF THE FINEST CASTINGS I HAVE EVER SEEN!  MR. GRANATELLI MUST HAVE DEMANDED EXACTING QUALITY CONTROL STANDARDS FOR THESE WHEELS, GIVEN THE EXTREME DEMANDS THAT WERE GOING TO BE PUT ON THEM!

SCROLL DOWN TO SEE PHOTOS OF THE WHEELS AND THEN HIT THE EBAY LINK FOR MORE PHOTOS AND INFORMATION –