83s & 84s
HTX Slab Directory · Technical & Cultural Archive
83s & 84s
The Wheels Houston Made Legendary
- Swangas
- Elbows
- 30s
- 30-spoke wire wheels
In Houston, a wire wheel became a signature. This archive documents that wheel twice: once as engineering, through patents, catalogs and manufacturers, and once as Houston history, told by the people who built, drove and remember the cars.
Every claim on this page carries a label showing what kind of evidence stands behind it. Where the record is still being assembled, we say so.
- 00How to read this archive
- 01Two histories
- 02The Engineering Archive
- 031984 Cragar Star•Wire guide
- 04The Cadillac Connection
- 05Anatomy of the 30
- 0683s vs. 84s
- 07Original or Reproduction?
- 08The Clack
- 09Always With Vogues
- 101983: The Year We Fell in Love
- 11The Wire Wheel Wars
- 12Houston Remembers
- 13FAQ
- 14Find Swangas
Five kinds of evidence, labeled every time
A patent, a memory and a magazine article are all valuable, but they are not the same thing. Each statement on this page is tagged so you can see what it rests on.
Supported directly by a dated primary record we have examined.
Stated in a patent. Patents describe what the applicant asserted; they are not independent proof of history.
Firsthand Houston memory. Preserved with respect, corroborated before it is treated as fact.
Reported by a later article, book or website.
Promising, but not yet verified. Never quietly upgraded.
One wheel, two histories running side by side
One history lives in patent files and parts catalogs. The other lives on Houston streets. This archive follows both and marks where they meet.
Engineering & corporate history
- Wire-spoke wheel patentsinventor Richard G. Weld · assigned to Weldwheels, Inc. · 1978–1981Documented
- Cragar Star•Wire 30-, 40-, 50- and 60-spoke series1984 application guide (cover seen in photographs; copy not yet in our archive)Documented, partial
- Cadillac applicationsPeriod literature being locatedResearch lead
- Discontinuation and scarcity of the originalsDescribed in the background of US 8,840,195 B1 (filed 2007); independent records soughtPatent claim
- Texan Wire Wheels’ strengthened Cragar-style wheelUS 8,840,195 B1 · inventor Lyvon J. Davis · filed 2007 · assigned to Texan Wire Wheels 2014 · granted 2014. Its description of a “strengthened” wheel is a patent claim.Documented (patent record)
- Modern Swangas and elbowsMakers and variants being documentedResearch lead
Houston cultural history
- Earlier wire-wheel cultureBefore the 30-spoke eraOral history
- Trues + VoguesOral history
- 30s + VoguesOral history
- 83s + VoguesOral history
- 84s + VoguesOral history
- Elbows / Swangas + VoguesOral history
- Modern evolutionToday’s builds and makersResearch lead
The Houston sequence is a working oral-history framework. Order and dates will be refined as interviews, photographs and period documents come in. The patents were filed by Weldwheels, Inc. and, later, Weld Racing Enterprises; any corporate relationship between those companies and Cragar Industries has not yet been established from primary records.
Before the Swanga Was a Symbol, It Was Engineering
Primary patent records, read directly from the patent file.
These five U.S. patents are the starting point of the engineering record. Dates, inventors and companies below are taken from the patent records themselves. Short descriptions summarize what each patent says; they are the applicant’s descriptions, not independent findings.
Wire Spoke Automotive Wheel
- Inventor
- Richard G. Weld
- Filed by
- Weldwheels, Inc.
- Filed
- June 23, 1978
- Granted
- October 7, 1980
Describes a wire-spoke wheel for tubeless tires whose spokes are not tension-tuned, with spoke ends welded into a solid metal ring (the felly). The example wheel in the patent has 30 spokes.
Patent claim Part of the wire-spoke engineering lineage. Not, by itself, proof of what Houston called 83s or 84s.
Method of Manufacturing a Wire Spoke Automotive Wheel
- Inventor
- Richard G. Weld
- Filed by
- Weldwheels, Inc.
- Priority
- June 23, 1978
- Filed
- September 28, 1979
- Granted
- October 13, 1981
Describes the method for building that wheel, including how the outer spoke ends are welded into bores in the felly. The example wheel has 30 spokes.
Patent claim Companion to US 4,226,479, from the same 1978 priority date.
Automotive Wheel Construction
- Inventor
- Richard G. Weld
- Filed by
- Weldwheels, Inc.
- Filed
- April 14, 1978
- Granted
- September 23, 1980
Describes a multi-piece wheel built from two cup-shaped halves locked together for torque transmission. It is not a wire-spoke patent.
Patent claim Included for context on the inventor’s wider wheel work. It is not the patent for the Houston 83 or 84.
Vehicle Wheel Having Non-Suspension Wire Spokes
- Inventor
- Richard G. Weld
- Filed by
- Weld Racing Enterprises, Inc.
- Filed
- September 28, 1984
- Granted
- February 24, 1987
Describes a lightweight drawn-and-stamped alloy wheel in which leftover material from the rim can be used to make wire-spoke assemblies or decorative plates.
Patent claim A later entry in the same inventor’s wire-spoke work.
Wheel Systems
- Inventor
- Lyvon J. Davis
- Priority
- August 21, 2006
- Filed
- August 20, 2007
- Granted
- September 23, 2014
Describes a strengthened version of the vintage Cragar-style wire-spoke wheel. Its drawings set the original Cragar wheel (Figs. 1–2) beside the strengthened design (Figs. 3–7). Its preferred design uses 10 outer and 20 inner spokes.
Patent claim The patent’s account of problems with the earlier wheels is the applicant’s description. See The Clack.
- Original engineering
- →
- Patent drawing
- →
- Explanatory illustration
- →
- Real photograph
- →
- Houston interpretation
Patents identify inventors and the companies that filed them. Whether any of these patents covered the wheels Houston calls 83s and 84s is a research question this archive is working to answer, not an assumption.
The 1984 Cragar Star•Wire Application Guide
Cragar · Star•Wire
Application Guide — 1984 Edition
Series listed on the cover of a physical copy examined in photographs.
Documented, partial Series numbers from the guide’s cover, seen in photographs; copy not yet in our archive. Research in progress Vehicle applications inside the guide, including any Cadillac fitments, will be published only from a complete, legible copy. We do not infer applications from partial images.
The Cadillac Connection
The archive is actively assembling primary documentation.
In Houston, these wheels are closely associated with Cadillacs. How the wheel and the car were actually connected — and where the names 83s and 84s came from — requires period documents, and we are looking for them now.
Research leadWhat we’re searching for
- 1983–1984 Cadillac advertisements
- Cadillac accessory literature
- Dealer merchandising catalogs
- Eldorado and other model brochures
- Period magazine advertisements
- Cragar application literature naming Cadillac models
Open question: were these wheels ever factory equipment, dealer-installed accessories, or aftermarket only? We will answer from documents, not assumption.
Anatomy of the 30
Patent claim 10 outer and 20 inner spokes, as US 8,840,195 B1 describes its strengthened vintage Cragar-style wheel. Weld’s 1978 patents also describe a 30-spoke example wheel. Whether every original 83 or 84 shared this layout is still being documented.
Ten, in US 8,840,195 B1’s strengthened Cragar-style wheel.
Patent claimTwenty, in the same patent.
Patent claimConstruction and materials to be documented.
Research in progressConstruction to be documented.
Research in progressThe solid metal ring the spokes are welded into, in Weld’s 1978 patents.
Patent claimCenter cap and knock-off styles to be documented.
Research in progressAngles and crossing pattern to be documented from drawings and measured examples.
Research in progressHow far the wheel extends, and whether it differed between 83s, 84s and later elbows.
Research in progress83s vs. 84s
Know What You’re Looking At
This will become the archive’s core identification guide. Every field below stays marked until it is backed by documents, measured examples or corroborated firsthand accounts.
| Feature | 83s | 84s | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Year / application | Research in progress | Research in progress | Pending |
| Wheel profile | Research in progress | Research in progress | Pending |
| Hub geometry | Research in progress | Research in progress | Pending |
| Spoke geometry | Research in progress | Research in progress | Pending |
| Poke / projection | Research in progress | Research in progress | Pending |
| Part / series number | Research in progress | Research in progress | Pending |
| Original manufacturer | Research in progress | Research in progress | Pending |
| Identifying marks | Research in progress | Research in progress | Pending |
| Photographs | Wanted | Wanted | Pending |
| Period documentation | Wanted | Wanted | Pending |
Know the difference firsthand, or own a documented set? Help us fill this in.
Original or Reproduction?
How to Know What You’re Looking At
Want period originals? We want to help you identify them. Happy with modern wheels? That’s your car and your call. Our job is accurate identification.
Topics this guide will cover
- Original Cragar construction
- Surviving markings and stamps
- Hub details
- Spoke arrangement
- Reproductions and modern variants
- Texan Wire Wheels and other makers
- Common misidentifications
The Clack
What the patent record says, set beside what Houston remembers.
The patent record
US 8,840,195 B1 (inventor Lyvon J. Davis; assigned to Texan Wire Wheels) describes spokes on the earlier wheel coming loose from the hub,
“causing an undesirable clacking noise.”
US 8,840,195 B1, background section. The applicant’s description of earlier wheels.
Houston remembers
Interviews in progress. We ask people who drove and worked on original wheels what they remember about how the wheels sounded and wore, without describing the patent first, so their answers stay independent.
Did yours clack?The same patent makes further statements about failures of earlier wheels and their withdrawal from the market. We will present those alongside independent records once we have them.
Always With Vogues
In Houston the wheel never stood alone. Through every stage people describe, the tire was part of the statement.
- Trues + Vogues
- →
- 30s + Vogues
- →
- 83s + Vogues
- →
- 84s + Vogues
- →
- Elbows / Swangas + Vogues
Oral history A working progression drawn from Houston memory. Dates, order and overlaps will be documented with photographs and period sources. The order shown is a working framework from Houston memory, not yet independently corroborated.
1983: The Year We Fell in Love
Oral history · research in progressSome recollections place the arrival of these wheels in Houston around 1983. This chapter will gather those memories — who, where, which car — and test them against dated photographs and documents.
Research lead (anonymous online recollection)One online recollection from 2013 places the first “elbows” in Hiram Clarke in 1983. It has not yet been corroborated.
The Wire Wheel Wars
From the Streets of Houston to the Patent Office
Rare wheels bring competition, on the street and on paper. This long-form feature will set Houston’s history of scarcity and status beside the patents, trademarks and business disputes over the wheels themselves.
The street
Scarcity, desirability and status in Houston.
The paper
Patents, trademarks and commercial competition.
Every claim in this feature will be individually sourced and carefully written. Nothing is published here until it is.
Houston Remembers
The Houston history of these wheels lives with the people who were there. We want to hear it.
Every submission is reviewed before anything is published. We credit contributors and ask permission before quoting anyone or using a photo.
What we’re collecting
- When you first saw 30s, 83s or 84s
- Which neighborhood
- Which car
- What you called them
- Photographs, with dates if you have them
- Shops, installers and prices
- Memories of scarcity
- Mechanical memories, including sounds and repairs
- How you told one wheel from another
Frequently asked questions
Where we can’t yet answer accurately, we say so.
What are Swangas?
A Houston name for chrome wire wheels that project outward from slab cars, also called elbows, as described by Wikipedia’s slab article. The full history of the name is research in progress.
What are 83s?
A Houston name for one of the classic 30-spoke wire wheels. What separates 83s from 84s is one of this archive’s open questions. See 83s vs. 84s.
What are 84s?
A Houston name used alongside 83s for the classic 30-spoke wire wheel. Whether 84s were a different or later wheel is still being researched. See 83s vs. 84s.
Are 83s and 84s the same wheel?
This is one of the archive’s central questions. We won’t answer it until documents and measured examples do.
Why are they called elbows?
One 2013 online recollection says the name came from wheels that stuck out like elbows. It is a single, uncorroborated account.
Why are they called Swangas?
We’re collecting firsthand accounts of how the name started.
What are 30s?
A Houston name in the working progression from Trues to elbows. What exactly it referred to is research in progress.
How many spokes are on the classic wheel?
Thirty — 10 outer and 20 inner — in the strengthened vintage Cragar-style wheel described in US 8,840,195 B1. Weld’s 1978 wire-spoke patents also show a 30-spoke example wheel.
What is Cragar Star Wire?
A Cragar wire-wheel line. Its 1984 application guide lists 30-, 40-, 50- and 60-spoke series. More detail awaits a complete copy of the guide.
What does Cadillac have to do with them?
We’re assembling period Cadillac and Cragar literature to document the connection. See The Cadillac Connection.
Were these factory Cadillac wheels or dealer/accessory wheels?
Not yet established. We’ll answer from period documents.
Why did the originals become scarce?
The background of US 8,840,195 B1 (filed in 2007 by inventor Lyvon J. Davis, later assigned to Texan Wire Wheels) says the earlier wheel was withdrawn from the market. Independent confirmation is being sought.
What is the difference between an original and a reproduction?
Our identification guide is being built point by point. See Original or Reproduction?.
Who makes them today?
Texan Wire Wheels is the assignee of US 8,840,195 B1, a patent for a strengthened Cragar-style wheel. Which companies make these wheels today is being documented.
What are Vogues, and why are they associated with the look?
Vogue tires have run alongside every stage of the look people describe. See Always With Vogues.
Find Swangas
Listings coming laterOnce the identification guides are in place, this space will show current third-party listings, each with its classification and the date we last checked it.
Sources cited on this page
- US 4,226,479 — Wire Spoke Automotive Wheel (patent record)
- US 4,294,393 — Method of Manufacturing a Wire Spoke Automotive Wheel (patent record)
- US 4,223,952 — Automotive Wheel Construction (patent record)
- US 4,645,267 — Vehicle Wheel Having Non-Suspension Wire Spokes (patent record)
- US 8,840,195 B1 — Wheel Systems (patent record)
- Wikipedia, “Slab (car)” (secondary source)
- Cragar Star•Wire Application Guide, 1984 Edition — cover examined in photographs; complete copy not yet obtained.
Also see Ricky Recaros, our archive of vintage RECARO seats in Houston. Cragar, Star•Wire, Cadillac, Vogue and Texan Wire Wheels are trademarks of their respective owners. HTX Slab Directory is an independent publication and is not affiliated with or endorsed by any of them.
Shop Vogue Tires on eBay
Gold-stripe Vogues listed right now, newest first. For real 84s and elbows, see the Swangas & Vogues shops in our directory.
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