The myth of poverty hat

Once was You can go to the auto show and any muscle car will come with Mag Wheels, whether it’s factory or aftermarket. Then, the trend towards poverty hats began to extend, with supporters claiming to order many performance cars without optional wheels as enthusiasts will go to his or her local speed store to open the aftermarket heads. How real is that? Let’s find out.

It has been considered a high water marker in the muscle car era since 1970, allowing us to focus on several mid-size performance cars and learn about available wheel options. First: Plymouth Road Runners. It can be equipped with standard hub covers, wires and luxury wheel covers. There are also two wheel options: road wheel and rally wheel. This is the way they are in popularity in the new era. (Note that the Plymouth Options and Accessories report only reflects the U.S. market cars, not the total production.)

Let’s move on some upscale and focus on Oldsmobile 4-4-2. Like Plymouth, Oldsmobile offers multiple hubcaps as well as two wheel options. (Note that the following statistics from the GM Heritage Center lasted until June 1970, and therefore a month of production was missing.)

Finally, let’s pay attention to Buick’s profile and wheel assignment for the Gran Sport, the latter two designs are very similar. These figures come from the Sloan Discovery Museum, including the 350-powered GS and GS 455.

The biggest surprise here is that the Buick Gran movement has the highest percentage of poverty hats, more than the average Jane Plymouth Road Runner. However, on the Mag Wheels side, overall, the factory has a large portion of local wheels installed. This eliminates the myth that after-sales magazines have a large market share in new performance tools. Of course, your statistician might point out that this exercise has not produced statistically significant conclusions yet, but this trend exists and only more evaluations are required to consolidate or eliminate the conclusions.