It’s the wheel McCoy … the 20 best to ever hit the road

October 23, 2017 by Alastair Sloane

It should be no surprise that some of the most iconic cars have the most incredible sets of wheels to match. Here is an American view of the best 20 to hit the road.

2000 Spyker C8 – Every other detail on the C8 is top notch, so it should be no surprise the aeronautical-inspired wheels are, too.

1998 BMW E39 M5 – You can always pick an E39 M5 out of the crowd, simply from its wheels.

2017 Aventador S Roadster – Lamborghini may be the best in the game as far as modern wheel design is concerned.

2007 Subaru STI – The 2007 STI is easily the most attainable car here, but that doesn’t mean it can’t pull off gold wheels.

2016 BMW M4 GTS – On paper, two-tone alloys sound a little too Pimp My Ride, but the M4 GTS wears them tastefully.

1993 Lancia Delta HF Integrale 16v Evoluzione II – Pulled straight from the rally car.

1986 Porsche 959 – Hollow-spoked magnesium wheels were light-years ahead of their time.

2005 BMW Alpina B7 – Pure class. Plain and simple.

1966 Ford GT40 – Those gold center-lock wheels may be just as iconic as the car.

1968 “Bullit” Ford Mustang 390 GT – San Fransisco tested, Steve McQueen approved.

1967 Ferrari 330 P4 – The 330 P4 is one of the most gorgeous cars ever built; it had to be given shoes worthy of that design.

2007 Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione – A bold car design needs a bold wheel design to match.

1963 Aston Martin DB5 – Maybe the best example of spoked center-locked wheels, ever.

1966 Porsche 911S – A “best wheels” roundup wouldn’t be complete without a Fuchs mention.

1971 Lamborghini Miura SV – You might be noticing a pattern here. Center-locking wheels — they’re pretty great.

1985 BMW E30 M3 – The basket-weave wheels that made the car famous — or is that the other way around?

2009 Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren – For a car that had 460kW and weighed 1750kg, the SLR was going to need fans to cool off the brakes.

1980 SAAB 900 Turbo – A level of cool only Saab could manage.

2007 Lamborghini Reventon – The Spyker has old-school aviation covered; the Reventon is definitely decidedly new-school.

1998 Ford Crown Victoria (Steelies) – Simple. Utilitarian. Almost always accompanied by red and blue lights.

If you are in a position to shell out upwards of NZ$600,000 for the 60^thanniversary Porsche 911 S/T or optional Porsche 911 S/T Heritage, you’ll no doubt want the signature titanium watch that goes with it. That’s how Porsche figures it anyway. Or, if you want the watch you’ll need to get the car. Both the car and the watch are limited to 1963 units, the year the original 911 model broke cover. The watch – Chronograph 1 911 S/T and Chronograph 1 911 S/T Heritage – and the car carry matching edition numbers. The watch is priced at $US13,500, or around $NZ22,200. The car, says Porsche NZ, starts at $NZ608,000. A “strictly limited number” will go into production for NZ early next year.

Eight European Union countries are pushing to weaken new EU emissions limits for cars, saying they are overly ambitious and unrealistic for carmakers to hit. The eight countries – France, Italy, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia – said in a joint paper that parts of the proposed Euro 7 regulation, including curbs on exhaust pipe emissions, should be scrapped entirely. They said the limits would force carmakers to invest in improving exhaust emissions performance, money which would be better spent on developing zero-emission vehicles. Taken together, the countries would have enough votes to block the proposal.

A go-anywhere EV concept for the US military uses an onboard 12kW diesel generator to top up the batteries on the move. The all-wheel-drive has 800-volt technology and a 200kWh battery pack to power three electric motors, two in the rear and one up front. Claimed output is 745kW/15,590Nm, or 1000hp and 11,500 ft-lb of torque. The four-seater was developed by the defence division of General Motors and is based on the platform of the Hummer SUV. It rides on Fox performance shock absorbers and 37-inch tyres and comes with “exceptional” approach and departure angles for off-road mobility. Maximum range using the generator to keep things ticking over is said to be around 500km.

The outside temperature in Midland, Texas, was 40.5C when staff at the local office of the US National Weather Service set out to show the cabin of a closed car can literally get baking hot in summer. They mixed up a batch of chocolate chip cookies and laid them on the car’s dashboard – the surface of which showed a temperature of 87.7C. A little over four hours later the cookies were ready to eat. “Even though ours weren’t golden brown, we can confirm that they are done and delicious,” the staff wrote on Facebook.