Hot Rods Mis matched wheels front and rear?

Looking through old pictures I've noticed that it used to be fairly common to have mis matched wheels front to rear on hot cars. I also remember local cars running around with non matching wheel combinations. I think it was an intentional choice rather than economic one like they didn't have enough money to buy matching wheels. The only reason I can imagine it would have been done on purpose would be for drag racing where you have a set of 4 street wheels and a different pair of rears for slicks that were mounted on cheaper wheels. Although many times the rears don't appear to be any less expensive. But that doesn't really explain why so many would do it on the street unless they were trying to copy what they thought was some drag racer look. There was a 1970 L-S6 Chevelle here in my town that the guy bought and mounted Tork-Thrusts on the front and Slots on the rear when it was still new so once again it appears money wasn't the issue. He certainly could have afforded matching wheels if he wanted. I'll admit I like the look on some cars but it is kinda strange to think people did it on purpose. Any other theories on this? View attachment 3698540

 

Wheels got mismatched for any number of reasons. Sometimes it was economic and others it was or is intentional. Example, I am going to run narrow Ansens on the front of my A sedan and Steelies reversed on the rear. It is for two reasons, one is I like the look and the other is that in my mind slots mags on all 4 corners looks too much like a good times van.

Sometimes the wheels looked mismatched at the track and in reality they were not, for example Halibrand had front runners that didn't resemble the big window wheels at all. Narrow front runners often are not the same style wheel as the wider rears that held the slicks.

I don't know if any of this makes any sense at all.

 

I didn't know anyone who could afford 4 wheels at once...except one friend who bought them on credit.

but I think the real reason was that if you were interested in going fast, there was no reason at all to make the wheels match. Wide out back, skinny up front, that's all that mattered.

 

Cause dragsters do it.

 

This would be my guess. Some guys were buying pairs of big wide wheels to run drag tires on and they wouldn't necessarily match because they were only used at the track, then some people jumped on that as a "look" to show that you're a racer and have big wide tires in the rear, along with a few who just did it for cost.

But I'm just guessing.

 

Mag spokes on the front and either chrome reverse or stock type steelies on the rear painted 1/2 black & white was a very common look in the Midwest in the 60's & 70's!

 

works for me...

 

Basic stuff,hot rods used "I"beam axles up front,why,cuz is what parts we had,was what racers used,now come some real basic,big/wide wheels on rear get better bit=go faster faster. Small/thin wheels on front roll EZer,cut wind better and are liter= Goes faster faster,less likely to bounce with bumps an the shocks of the day{or anyday}=less likely to deathwabbel. So look of what works well ,becomes look of both speed an cool. Same size all around works best on customs,an thats cool too,but if lower much,small fronts are needed to clear front fenders. like I said,basic,what works is cool,what dosen't ,is not.

 

And I know a guy around here that has a red, white & blue 56 Chev with chrome slots on the rear and torque-thrusts on the front.

Mick

 

That thing looks pretty damn good to me!

 

I knew several guys who did it in the 60's because they thought it gave the car a drag car look. I don't think any of those cars ever saw a drag strip though.
Had friends in the 70's that ran matching mags on all four corners and a pair of slicks on steelies for the drags. That was standard procedure then. Put the slicks in the trunk with the tools and jack, drive to the track, unload the trunk, put the slicks on, uncork the headers and go race.

 

Chrome steelies in back and skinny Torq-Thrust mags up front... Oh, yeah!

 

It was rare to ever buy new wheels. That was for the wealthy! Way cheaper to buy used, so the look was secondary to the fit.

 

I did it, several times. I liked the look & still do. The first was skinny chrome slots on front, wider chrome reverse on back. That was more due to economics at the time, but it worked for me. Even today, I have a pair of TT five spokes on the shelf destined to be fronts someday. Rears, probably painted steelies, unless I run into a pair of deep chrome or aluminum slots (& depending on what turns up as project). Lots of mismatched wheels were run back then, be it economics or on purpose.

 

It's just an easy, and fun thing to do!

 

Seems like we used to do it a lot back in the 60's. As some have mentioned, who could afford 4 new wheels back then. My personal choice were ET's on the front and chrome reversed in the rear.

 

Brissette, Quincy, Eichenhofer Roadster
1959 Colburn-Glaze
Hello,

What a great topic. The 50’s and 60’s were the time period of mismatched wheels on drag racing cars. They influenced the look on the street for a lot of hot rods. Our stock cars sometimes had mismatched wheels because of changing the stock rims with slicks in the back. But, most of the wheels matched for the street, whether or not it was a racer, custom, or roadster.

When you went to the drags, the trunk popped open and out came the slicks. So, most of the time, they were black on black, but there were whitewall slicks on rims that were handy, regardless of color.

Junior Thompson Willys and the Juggers Bantam

The drag racing coupes and sedans had the “Bigs and Littles” like the FED racers. So, the mismatched rims always came into play. But, most of the time, it was put on the slicks that were mounted on any rim available at the time.

Carl Swift Ford
1958
My brother went through a stage of gold rims all around, small hubcaps, then full hubcaps and finally all black rims on his 58 Impala. But, in this photo, we had just purchased a set of cheater slicks for the A/Stock races. The handiest rims were from the scrap yard near our house, black 15” Chevy rims. (Stock 14” in front and 15” in back. Single run, time trials were ok for the cheater slicks, but for the eliminations, the stock rims and wheels had to get put back on the rear.)

Jnaki

Sometimes, I felt like I was the head “Indy Pit Row Tire Installer” between rounds.

 

Because it looks good, in my humble opinion. My coupe photo shopped by "the Moose"

 

It was all I had to work with.

 

I bought the car with the wheels same front to and back.Then bought new tires for the front found out they were tube only rims so I had them put on some wheels I had ? I am not sure if will change the rears to match the front ?

 

I just set up my roadster this way, because it reminds me of the cars I used to see growing up in the '60's, all the really bad-ass ones looked like this. Sometimes you see deuce roadsters that look so street-roddy and perfect -- this way looks more purposeful, and less goody-goody. Feels period-correct, in an odd way. (If the period in question is the late '60's-early 70's).



Also a chance to be less cookie-cutter and predictable. Nothing cooler than a set of mismatched pie crust slicks.

 

My 34 coupe I'm working on

 

Honestly most people did/do it for looks but there are a few other reasons that come into play

-different bolt pattern front and back and some wheels don’t come, or aren’t found easily in one of the patterns

- Front wheels weight less

- wheels aren’t available in the offset / size needed for the front or back

-they are exspensive! I know a lot of guys who bought wheels for one end that blew the whole budget so they went with a cool but different and cheaper wheel on the other end. By the time you pay for those spindle mount mag wheels up front your just praying the junk yard has the right sized steelies for the back!

 

Ditto in the Southeast during the mid-late sixties.

 

Back in my day 60's only matched set I ever had was chrome reversed purchased at JC Whitney, had my homemade reversed 15" Chevy wheels with recap street slicks that I took on and off (bad in rain and it snows here in Wi.) Had these wheels and tires for several years 64-71 as I was Chevy guy, 57, 56, 58, 64, 65 and throw in a few Fords and 1 mopar. I had several mismatched sets from buying used mag wheels in pairs from guys. As a kid/ young man was always a day late and a dollar short, working 2 jobs, traded/bought/repaired/improved and sold cars often.

 

Because it was just cool with the cheater slicks! About 1967.

 

Sometimes we'd buy the wheels and have to find a car to put them on. These "Rocket" 14'' x 7'' rears had no air slots, being made by cutting '49-'53 Chev centers down and welding into"GTO outers" or rims. Stock Chev caps or baldies made for one of the smoothest wheels on the street. It took all summer to find 2 more for the front, as they weren't in production more than a few years.

 

I'm with Squirrel, it works for me.

 

I bought my parent's old daily driver Olds while I was in the military. Didn't have much $$$ so I mounted my Casler recaps on stock, black Olds rims and put chromies on the front. For the photo I put both chrome wheels on one side. Hey, I shoulda taken a photo of the other side with cheater slicks on front and rear.
I kept the chrome wheels when I sold the Olds and put them on my new 57 Pontiac. I took another photo with [again] both chromies on the same side....cheaters on the other side for the photo.