The "Dog Dish" / "Poverty Cap" Look

[38P]

PDub's lament over his "murdered" rims has got me thinking . . .

Back when wheels were real U.S. steel instead of aluminum alloy, they were often simple, body-colored stampings. Cops, cabs, and bucks-down Bangshifters ran smallish "hub caps" on 'em, instead of more pricey full "wheel covers." Due to their parsimonious associations, small hub caps were often known as "poverty caps" or "dog dishes."

(As an irrelevant aside, I still get stoked over the pre-'62 look of full Moon disks on a drag car . . . a stylistic hold-over from drag racing's roots in LSR. That smooth "lakes" look only went out of fashion at the strip when low-cost "mags" became widely available after 1962)

SO THE QUESTION IS -- what is the best way to pay homage to the traditional "dog dish" / "poverty cap" look on a modern car with lightweight alloy wheels?

Anyone? Anyone?

[pdub]

PDub's lament over his "murdered" rims has got me thinking . . .

Back when wheels were real U.S. steel instead of aluminum alloy, they were often simple, body-colored stampings. Cops, cabs, and bucks-down Bangshifters ran smallish "hub caps" on 'em, instead of more pricey full "wheel covers." Due to their parsimonious associations, small hub caps were often known as "poverty caps" or "dog dishes."

(As an irrelevant aside, I still get stoked over the pre-'62 look of full Moon disks on a drag car . . . a stylistic hold-over from drag racing's roots in LSR. That smooth "lakes" look only went out of fashion at the strip when low-cost "mags" became widely available after 1962)

SO THE QUESTION IS -- what is the best way to pay homage to the traditional "dog dish" / "poverty cap" look on a modern car with lightweight alloy wheels?

Anyone? Anyone?

Do you mean like a flat black metal wheel with a Moon hubcap? Yeah, whatever happened to that?

[studemax]

No, P. Like this...

[38P]

Photoshopped poverty on a Challenger

[pdub]

No, P. Like this...

Ahhhhh okay. We didn't live in a rich neighborhood, so I never saw those. Looks like it oughta be on top of the Queen's hairdo or sumpthin.

[38P]

The tasty ones bring a bright body color over onto the wheels, such as this '68 Oldsmobile 442

[38P]

"Doggies" with a Max Wedge stance.

[Barry Donovan]

my 74 chevelle had moon hubcaps, in the center only. plain, no marks.
shipped factory like that. wheels were body color, plain steel.
it was the rare sedan, 250ci. econo sedan.

subarus still use more than that 4000 pound sedan...

anyway.

alloys tend to be fat, and that takes the offset a bit shallower..so hubcaps are not as easy.



my chevelle was tad darker green..else identical. this one in photo is also a 1974.

[38P]

"Doggies" with "wide whites" and body-colored rims . . . sweet!

[38P]

alloys tend to be fat, and that takes the offset a bit shallower..so hubcaps are not as easy.

But can the "look" be pulled off with paint? (e.g. body-colored outer with a silver center)



What about "doggies" on a painted Centerline or Weld-style wheel?

[pdub]

"Doggies" with "wide whites" and body-colored rims . . . sweet!

Not sure if there's a whole lot of Corvair station wagon fans here, but yeah. That's intriguing, that effect. You can't do that these days, with what we're being fed from the marketplace. Not new stuff, anyhow.

[antmnte]

I like em like that. THe new Challenger looks cool with the cop car wheels. Wheel vintiques has 18 inch steelies in summit catalog.

[A/Fuel]

I found a set of pinto hub caps that worked on my monza, by some crazy driving techniques I managed to loose them one by one.

[38P]

Neo-poverty: '68 "GT" wheels without trim rings and with base-model caps and white letter tires. Bitchin!

[pdub]

Neo-poverty: '68 "GT" wheels without trim rings and with base-model caps and white letter tires. Bitchin!

Why aren't the shackles silver? Silver shackles were really IN.