I’m restoring a 1969 xke 2+2 and I’ve seen conflicting info on which type of wheel hub is “original”–i.e. the ones it came out of the factory with. I’ve googled till my fingers got sore and haven’t found any definitive answer.
Are you asking whether it came with wire wheels or disc wheels?
Depends on how it left the factory. …either wire wheels with splined hubs or bolt on hubs/ wheels…what details are you after…Steve
If you mean the actual wire wheel hubs, they’d be the straight forged type, not the “Curly” ones used on the 3.8 and early 4.2. Less attractive, but stock.
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Welcome Brad.
If you are referring to the knockoff nuts that hold the wheel on to the splined hub the 1969 models sold in the U. S. came with knockoff that requires a bronze, eared tool to remove them. Earlier cars had eared knockoffs.
Cars prior to Series II
1969, Series II, knockoffs.
If you are referring to the hub that is the center of the wire wheel itself the one in the bottom picture is correct.
Brad,
Welcome to the forum. You will get the correct answer to your question for sure from this bunch of folks but, as you have already read, you will need to be more precise in your question to get the answer you need. One further factor that may affect the answer is your location - or more precisely, the country that your car was originally shipped to. As the majority of the folks on this forum are US-based, we tend to forget that cars for other markets were different, particularly from 1968 onwards.
-David
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Wow. Great info. Yes, it was delivered to the US with the wire wheels, so it looks like I’m stuck with the slightly less glamorous type. Thanks for all the comments and the photo was particularly helpful.
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I can’t imagine you find the disc wheel more glamourous than a wire wheel so I’ll guess that you think the earlier ‘curly’ hub looks better than the later smooth hub.
In that case I believe you’re ‘stuck with’ a superior design that is forged and stronger.
If you’re referring to the eared knock-offs, those are easily substituted on a later car (that’s what I did).
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I wouldnt mind a set of the eared type , but many people say the new ones ( not NOS ) are poorly made and dont fit properly - that has put me off .
Hi,
It’s an E-type as made in England in the 1960’s, so how can it be “less glamorous”? 
It’s a bit like you would be married to a “less glamorous” princess if she’s not going to be the next sovereign ruler of the empire. 
I have absolutely nothing against the “easy clean” wheel hubs and three-lobe spinners. In fact my car (#1S20183) had the Series 1 winged spinners fitted when bought, but fortunately all the original parts (Steering wheel, spinners, radio, etc.) were kept in cardboard boxes so I put them all back on the car and sold off the Series 1 parts that had been used to “back date” the Series 3 OTS.
IMHO the cars look just fantastic the way they were made. YMMV.
Cheers!
PS. A Series 3 V12 OTS with “less glamorous” wheel hubs and spinners, voilá:
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Thanks so much for the photos. Really helps.
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