Customs Red rims and other questions from a newb

1) Red rims
I'm not well researched, but red rims on 50's customs (ie. like a '51 Merc) seems like a newer fad. Weren't red and white rims popular on older hot rods, and then folks have more recently painted rims this way?

2) Iron cross
Was wondering, did the iron cross stuff start out with bikers?

3) Customs in the beginning
Were customs (chopped etc) meant to make cars look more fancy or more unusual? If a guy did a bunch of work to a car, was he more of a custom car guy but you wouldn't see a wealthy guy drive a car like that to say a fance restaurant? Know what I mean?

4) I'm guessing that many customs on here do not have front turn signals?

5) What is a gold chainer, a guy with the wallet that attaches with a chain?

6) Are flat paints a more recent fad, and what what fork of the hot rod tree do they come from, rat rods?

7) Customs are a sister scene to Bombs? What are they both descended from?

 

There are many Threads about these topics already.

If you do a Search, you'll find them.