The Pontiac brand put together a pretty strong run during its lifetime, delivering its first car in 1926 and finally stopping production in 2010. That’s when GM had to cut a number of brands, also including Hummer and Saturn, as part of its post-bankruptcy reorganization. But during much of its existence, Pontiac had a noticeable focus on performance.
It was the Pontiac of the 1960s that really set the foundation. The brand began to muscle up with Super Duty Catalinas in 1962 and 1963, giving them V8 engines derived from NASCAR racing. In fact, a Catalina won the Daytona 500 in 1962. The highest-HP engine ever put in a Pontiac Grand Prix from the factory came the same year. The swinging ’60s also saw the debut of the Pontiac GTO — considered America’s first muscle car — and the Pontiac Firebird and Trans Am.
Beyond going fast, though, during these years Pontiac also put some thought into slowing you down. This was the impetus behind the brand’s innovative eight-lug wheels, engineered for improved braking performance with old-school drum brakes. Let’s see how it all worked together to create one of the decade’s most distinctive features.
Here’s how Pontiac’s 8-lug wheels work
Just so we’re clear, what we’re talking about here is the number of wheel studs attached to each wheel hub. For example, the typical wheel hub has five studs to which you mount each wheel, using five lug nuts as fasteners. The Pontiac wheels, obviously, use eight per wheel, but that’s not really the big deal. The big deal is where the holes for the wheel studs are located. The attachment points for most wheels are close to the center of the wheel, which is roughly shaped like a disc. The Pontiac wheels were more like thick metal rings, with the holes for the wheel studs located on the inner part of the ring.
Most modern cars have stopped using drum brakes, but they were standard back then, and they work by having the brake shoes apply outward pressure to the inner surface of what’s called the brake drum. The drum, in turn, is located behind the wheel — out of direct contact with fresh air. As a result, drum brakes were notorious for heating up and losing braking power. Pontiac’s upgrade was to move the brake assembly to the empty space in the center of its eight-lug wheels, letting the passing breeze do a better job of cooling the brakes.
A short history of Pontiac’s rare 8-lug wheels
The idea of mounting the brake-drum assembly in the center of the wheel didn’t come from Pontiac. Bugatti’s Type 35 race car from the 1920s tried putting brake drums at the center of its wheel rims, as did a Panhard entry at LeMans in 1956. Pontiac first used Bugatti-style wheels in its eye-popping 1953 Firebird XP-21 concept car, and the brand’s forward-thinking brain-trust at the time — including legends like John Delorean, Bunkie Knudsen, and Pete Estes — decided to push them into production. They were actually designed by GM engineer Clayton Leach, who had previously worked on V8 engines for Pontiac and Chevrolet.
The finished product was a 14-inch steel rim around an 11-inch finned aluminum brake drum, produced by the brand’s wheel supplier at the time, Kelsey-Hayes. They were offered as a $120 option on full-size Pontiacs like the Bonneville, Catalina, and Grand Prix from 1960 to 1968. You can still track down these wheels, too, although they’re a little more expensive. A recent set showed up on eBay for $1,200. Not bad compared to Rolls-Royce’s ridiculous $13,000 wheels.