tcgoesch

I have been resisting a note in the Forum, but I could no longer stand back. I wanted to put the story on the table on how I got into selling these wheels. I got into the wheel business after being completely frustrated trying to buy a set of wheels from Real Rodders for 4 years. I think you can go back through the posts on the AOAI website during the last 5 years and see the number of people that had emails and phone calls go unanswered. There were rumors that Real Rodders was done, as they removed the "Avanti" style Hallibrands from their website. So I kept trying and wondering - when are they going to do something? I looked into the ownership of the Hallibrand brand and found it is a part of the Holley family of products. Finally, I thought through this situation and thought as a service to the Avanti owners, not for profit, that I would have the wheels tooled up and produced. I worked in the automotive electronics business as an engineer and manager for over 40 years. I have many contacts to call upon in the industry. I took a wheel and had it digitally scanned, then had a die cast mold produced. I had the wheel drawings reviewed by the Chief Engineer of an OEM wheel manufacturer in Detroit to assure that it would meet the SAE requirements for aftermarket wheels. I then had the testing done to assure compliance with these requirements. There durability and strength requirements that must be met. I'm not sure what Real Rodders has done. We made some small changes to the wheel drawing to assure the design was able to pass the tests. I then added the UV Urethane clear coat to assure a lasting, high polished finish. Real Rodders wheels are not coated or polished to my knowledge. I had many people contact me before I started production and ask me call them when the wheels were available. My estimate was off by 5 months as to when I would have production quantities in my warehouse. So, most of those folks went to Real Rodders in the Spring and Summer of 2023 and paid a significantly higher price - $369/wheel plus spinners, lug nuts, and valve stems. The wheels that I am selling are highly polished around the rim and the areas on either side of the openings. The entire wheel has also been clear coated to greatly reduce oxidation and not require regular re-polishing to keep the high level of luster they are given when manufactured. This is the same material you find on all of the alloy wheels sold on new vehicles world wide. I also have a plain spinner that has also been clear coated. It is rumored that Holley, who owns the Halibrand brand now, has sent Real Rodders a "cease and desist letter" that they can no longer sell spinners with the Halibrand name on them. Other than that, the wheels are dimensionally the same for the most part. I am not a wheel dealer like Real Rodders. I have a small online parts company for a very specific EV called a Think City. Up to now, I have sold over 30 sets of wheels to Avanti owners as well as to Nostalgic Parts in Detroit. The wheels are produced in China by low volume wheel producer that supplies many of the aftermarket wheel companies in the U.S. with products. The people that run the company are based in Atlanta, Georgia. The principle owners are all former engineers for OEM wheel producers in the US. At the start, I was able to be significantly lower in price. I threw in the plain spinners, wheel nuts, washers, and valve stems for customers that were buying at least 4 wheels for $1199.00. That caused Real Rodders to lower their price twice in the last year. I have not changed my price. I have to recover my tool costs. I have not been able to meet their latest price of $939 for a set of four. But I have found for customers east of the Mississippi, I can help them versus the costs of shipping from California. I have another 150 wheels to sell. I believe I have a wheel that is every bit as good as that offered by Real Rodders. If you want a polished finish - that is what I have. Tom Goesch 317-385-1184

UPDATE: Wheels will be in California on Monday! I will be sending out information and an order sheet to all those on my list. These will also be sold by Dan Booth at Nostalgic Motors. Watch for a new lower price! Tom Goesch

Hey Paul, I think the answer is yes. I took it right off of my drawing. Here are a couple of pics of the wheels on the car.

Here is a copy of my ad going into the Avanti magazine. The latest arrival date from my supplier is Mid-July. Please hang on I think these are worth the wait.

Good call Lee! Reversed the hoses and the problem went away.

I finished rebuilding the ram on my power steering today. When I started the car to check for proper operation, I experienced a condition where the steering wheel moved left to right at about 1/2 second intervals. I know that I have to bleed the system to remove air, but I did not expect this kind of a condition. Is this something other than air in the system? Did I get the hoses on the ram reversed. I plan to restart the car tomorrow morning and see if I can get rid of this issue using the full left to full right process again.

Received my first shot wheels from my supplier today. Please see pictures below. They provided me two different finishes: 1) all the samples were polished in all areas except the inside of the recessed areas in each spoke and the lug bolt area(top picture), 2) clear coated entire wheel(bottom picture(. These wheels have an excellent polish and the recessed areas also have a bit of gloss and appear a lighter gray color, 3)The non-clear coated wheels appear darker gray in the recessed areas, and the polish to the rest of the wheels appear much more brilliant. I think you will be able to see this in the pictures below. Also shown is a forged aluminum spinner that the supplier is offering me at no tooling cost. There is also no minimum order quantity. The are very well polished and do not have any pits anywhere. The are different from the ones that Dave Kinney has offered. They are plain and do not have the rough cast finish in the bottom of the spinner bars. They are also a bit more rectangular all over. They also do not include the "Hallibrand Engineering" text toward the outside of the spinner. Please comment on what you would like to see me do as far as the finish. I am looking into have the Avanti "A" or "Avanti" laser engraved across the middle the spinners. I have also discussed with the supplier a different bolt circle diameter that would allow use of these wheels on Avanti II's using the larger Chevy 5 inch bolt circle. I will need to buy a minimum of 60 pieces. I am trying to buy bulk wheel nuts from Gorilla Auto to be able to offer everything you need to put the wheels on your car. I am going to discuss the lead time for production parts which I believe will be about 4-5 weeks. Please give me some feedback on the finish question about as well as engraving the spinners. I will sell these through my EV parts company Think Parts 4U. Price is $295 per wheel plus shipping from Tipton, Indiana. Thanks for your patience with me on these wheels. I will also be bringing wheels to the national meet in St. Louis and to the SDC Swap Meet in South Bend in early June. Looking forward to your feedback! Tom Goesch - 317-385-1184 tcgoesch@mac.com

I appreciate all of the interest shown thus far in the wheels. Here is the status: Drawing approved on December 14th. Die cast tooling now underway. Current schedule shows that wheels should be available approximately May 1, 2023. I have connected with Dave Kinney and he will be glad to supply spinners as he has in the past. The first run will be 200 wheels unless the response says we should make more. Wheels will be manufactured in China. The supplier is a manufacturer of low volume private branded wheels to aftermarket wheel companies globally. Wheels have been designed to meet or exceed SAE Spec. J2530 requirements. This is the industry standard spec for aftermarket wheels. The wheels will be die cast using alloy ANSI A356.0 Temper T6 Aluminum Wheel size is 15 X 6J, Backspacing ET9 (This is the same as the Real Rodders product) Accommodates tire sizes 205/70 - 15 or 215/70 - 15 Wheels will be painted with a powder primer + Liquid color coat + Liquid clear coat. This is the same process used by OEM's today. Maximum load capacity 1400 lbs. Costs need to be finalized. Open items include current tariffs and shipping from Long Beach, CA to Indianapolis, IN. Working to maintain previous prices. I am planning to bring wheels to the International Meet in St. Louis in June and the SDC Meet in Wisconsin in September for sale. I am keeping a list of people who have expressed interest in buying wheels. When pricing is finalized, I will begin taking pre-orders. If you need to contact me, please use the forum message utility or email me at tcgoesch@mac.com. Tom Goesch