Author Topic: 18" billet wheels  (Read 18862 times)

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Offline manta22

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Re: 18" billet wheels
« Reply #30 on: May 18, 2015, 09:27:14 PM »
That company was originally founded by Bill Jongbloed and was located at the Chino Airport.

Regards, Neil  Tucson, AZ

Bill was a friend of mine and think he started his wheel building business in Santa Ana, California. I had a shop a couple of spaces away from him so I ended up over his shop quite a bit. When time permitted, I helped him hand spin sheet aluminum wheel halves on a very big (and old) lathe. Bill was a troubled genius and difficult to understand at times but always a good friend.

John

John;

in the early '90s I visited Bill at his shop at Chino. he made a couple of modular wheels (spun aluminum halves with magnesium centers) for my street Manta Mirage. Expensive but nice. They only weighed 12 lbs.

Regards, Neil  Tucson, AZ
Regards, Neil  Tucson, AZ

Offline ggl205

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Re: 18" billet wheels
« Reply #31 on: May 18, 2015, 10:03:39 PM »
Neil, Bill made very nice wheels and well ahead of their time. He was anal about perfection and one of the best craftsmen I know. I watched him form, fold and rivet a replacement McLaren F5000 chassis with basic tools. He did the same for a Lola F5000 car back when you could find these chassis reasonably cheap.

Bill made a set of FSV wheels for my Lola formula super vee back in the mid 70's. I lived in Santa Ana at the time.

John