Special Equipment: Four of a Kind

Steve Siler

10/01/2007

Ever sketched out an idea on a napkin? Ever thought you would see your creation on a car? The answer to these questions, unless you work at an automaker or hot rod house, is probably no.

But don’t wad up those hanky doodles just yet. The next frontier for automotive customization involves neither paint jobs nor body kits, but rather custom-designed wheels. And we do mean custom, as in one-of-a-kind sets with original designs, unique finishes and dimensions—all specified by you.

Of course, designing and building wheels present enough engineering challenges and legal liabilities to make anyone’s head spin; thus, not just any vendor can whip up a set that won’t fly off when you slice through a corner. It’s fitting, then, that the first outfit to provide this service is a well-known wheel specialist: American Racing Equipment, Inc. of Rancho Dominguez, Calif. Specifically, ARE’s "Custom Shop."

This skunkworks of sorts had been building custom wheels for two decades (primarily for hot rod builders) as Boyd Coddington Wheels—yes, that Boyd Coddington—before being purchased by American Racing in January of 2006. Now, as the Custom Shop, the group has brought wheel customization services to anyone with between $2,000 and upwards of $50,000 to spend on rims.

Under the direction of Boyd Coddington’s son Chris, the Custom Shop ambitiously claims that it "can build any type of wheel." Most orders require consultation with Custom Shop designers, which use CAD software to render your freehand scribbles so that a fabricator can produce a pilot wheel for stress and chemical testing. Once it is deemed street worthy, a full set is produced for immediate installation. The process can take a few days, or a few months.

That said, most orders are not as wild as you might expect. According to a representative, the Custom Shop takes three to four orders per day, mostly from customers that want wheels from a previous era recreated in a size that will fit newer cars, or from guys that simply want their initials or an image embossed on the face of an off-the-rack ARE wheel.

But every week or two, they get special orders for wheels like the three-piece 20-inch set commissioned by the owner of the yellow Murciélago pictured above—which feature "hidden hardware" (bolts and tire valves in the back), black powder-coated centers and pearl yellow metallic outers that perfectly match the Lamborghini’s original paint.

Sound like fun? Break out the napkins.

American Racing
888.623.4199
www.americanracing.com