LEFT FOR THREAD

Ever seen someone struggling to undo the wheel nuts on an old Valiant? If the wheel is on the left-hand side, it could well be that the poor sod is actually tightening them. Valiants used lefthand-threaded wheel nuts well into the 1960s, but only on the left side. The theory was that the normal rotation of the left side wheels would apply a tightening force to the left-hand nuts. Globally, Mopar brands (but there were others, too) were very keen on this practice. Thing is, I don’t recall the wheels constantly falling off cars without this feature. And how many studs were broken off by hapless owners thinking they had a seized wheelnut and going for the big breaker bar?