It's been a long time since I checked in on this forum, I am again amazed at what you've achieved DrewDog - so inspiring. I hope to catch up and see it all in person again one day (if the craziness lets up in my life long enough).

Well, when it rains it pours and it seems to be raining wheels at the moment.
I finally got around to mounting up my original Goodyear tyre to a rim and stuck it on a repro stand as a garage ornament.
I picked it up years ago, it was a spare in a wreck we bought and is pretty much brand new, it still has the little tags attached. It almost got buried a few years back when I was using my stock of old tyres to make soakwells for the house 
Glad I decided against using that particular tyre.
 

 

 
Only a few days after finishing that off the brother in-law called me to say his mate was chucking out some old Escort mags he'd had in the shed and do I want them?
The answer was yes and to my surprise he turned up with a set 5 of Volante's. They're in good nic too, all of the holes are still round and not spot of curb rash. I was never entirely happy with the job the painter did on mine so I'll give them a treat by smoothing out the casting marks, have them powder coated and fit them next time I do tyres, with the soft, sticky ones on the car at the moment and the amount driving I'm doing that may not be too long.
 

 
The car itself is going great, all run in and tuned now. I haven't been doing my usual cruises up the coast in it, instead I've been blasting some country roads. I work in a rural area so on a Friday arvo I go and explore a bit in the Falcon, make some mental notes and return the next day for some fun. It's what I used to love doing the best in the car and I'd forgotten how good a well sorted Escort feels to drive.
Can't wipe the smile off my face all weekend... 

They're definitely coated with something Marty. Not sure whether its paint or some other kind of treatment, anodizing or the like. I've had to sand it off in the past when I polished the lips on a set. You can see it chipping off here, its from the inner band of one of my new wheels, I know its original as its still got its factory paint spots (more on that in a minute)
 

 
There seems to be a couple of different types of the Volante's too. I'm not to sure of the exact details, just guessing.
Some are cast with the globe details some aren't.
 

 

 
The original wheels that came with my car didn't have the globe stampings. It doesn't seem to be a year thing either as I've had wheels with and without the castings which have had varying date stamps. Most of the wheels without the casting also have a paint smear like a factory would use.
 
  
 
 So I'm assuming that the non casting ones were supplied to Ford and fitted on the production line and the casting style wheels were aftermarket fitment.
 
Probably all irrelevant and maybe I'm over thinking it all 

Yeah I reckon vapour blasting and a satin clear coat would be the way to go. Keeping them clean in raw state would be nigh on impossible.
Interesting on the van I thought only the Sundowners got the spare wheel bracket in the back.

Perfection!

Fully restored no expense spared genuine 0kms build. No Time Wasters I Know What I Have. 
 
 

I want a dot at 200

Cheers guys.
 
That'd be 300 000km's, I've had the car since 140 and have seen it clock over once before. I didn't have a phone back then though, let alone one with a high resolution camera to record the event

Pretty rare to have the AC pump and that stove pipe plate in such good order .
I'm working on a 77 Rally Pack that's all matching numbers too, only concern is the motor is seized, if it's the pistons locking it up I'll try the old hyd press to release the stuck ones. The RP is also yellow like yours