Hub Vs Lug centric

Until the all the rice-burner stuff came along, nobody ever worried about "hub centric" wheels, or the center hole spacers, and other assorted paraphernalia. We never bothered with this stuff back in the '60s-'70s and I can't recall ever having a problem with it. Even the aftermarket wheels with the slotted lug holes and special shanked lug nuts and funky oval washers seemed to work just fine. I don't know why they wouldn't work today.