History Period correct rims for 54/55 custom?

Thanks Gotgas. I really enjoyed reading the thread on Marcia Campbell.

 

Reversed wheels were invented to provide extra clearance between the rear tires and body, on a channeled roadster or if you used oversize rear tires.

It involved cutting the center loose from the rim, and welding the rim back on, after turning it around. This gave the rim more offset to the outside.

A variation was to weld a Buick rim to a Ford center. The Buick rim was wider but would not fit the Ford.

Chrome reversed rims became available at auto parts stores about 1960 or 61.

Before that, they had to be hand made.

A custom car of 1955 would use stock rims, painted your choice of color, with wheel covers, either off some swanky car like a DeSoto, Olds or Cadillac, or aftermarket ones from the auto parts store, or ordered from the back pages of a hot rod or custom car magazine.

 

Yeah because George had nothing to do with the style of early cars coming out of his shop.

 

I would think the hot ticket in '54-'55 would've been the '53-'55 Old "Fiesta" wheelcover.

 

Sorry, you might have misunderstood me. Most of Marcia's photography was of early Barris cars, and cars by other customizers in the area during that time, before Barris was photographing them himself.

 

So what are these? They are awesome.



Posted using the '54 Full Kustom H.A.M.B. App!

 

Thanks Rusty O'Toole...

 

another view.
'54 cadillac with center bullets.
i miss that car.

 

Not so fast scraping those 14 inchers. When I was in high school in the late '50's, one of the coolest setups was to put 14 inchers from a '57-'59 Ford on our '49 to '53 Fords. We literally hung around the junkyard waiting for a set to show up! One of my friends had a metallic green and white '53 2DR sedan with '57 wheels, tires, and wheel covers; we all envied him until we got our own.

 

I love it tubman!!!

But that would mean 14 inchers were period correct for a custom in the late 50s.

 

16" rims..?

According to KUSTOMS Illustrated, this Victoria has 16" rims:

"Many people comment on how proportionate the car is. One of the reasons for this is the use of 16" tires and rims from a '49 Plymouth. They fill the wheel wells perfectly, giving the car a very full and solid feel."

Any comments on 16" rims for a 54/55 custom, because I think this car looks amazing..?

 

Thanks for the response.

 

Ok, so I have put on 15x5" chrome smoothie rims with Coker Classic Vintage 3.25 white-walls. Now to stay period correct for 1954/55, what wheel covers or hubcaps please?

I've been searching feverishly through the net, but can't decide on or find a period correct wheel cover or hubcap, because everything I see has a painted red or black rim underneath and it's impossible for me to visualize what the cover will look like on my chrome rim.

 

Just to help you along, here are a couple of photos of my shoebox, with different wheel discs, spider caps, as well as chrome wire wheels. I believe these are what was used in the early and mid 50,s. My preference is the 57 Caddies. Larry

 

Steelies and hubcaps or steelies and no hubcaps. They only two options in '54-'55.

 

Thanks Somebody.

Did anyone ever run chrome steelies with chrome hubcaps in 54/55, because every picture I see the rim is showing some colour, either red or black?

Here's my car with the new 15x5 steelies, and Coker Classic Vintage 3.25" whitewalls.

 

I would spend some time going through these photos that rik has compiled, if you don't recognize a cap that you like, people on the hamb should be able to help figure it out.

here is the link to his 52-54 ford folder...but to get a good idea of the 50's mindset, you could check out some of the other makes folders as well....
http://public.fotki.com/Rikster/11_...like/ford_custom_cars/52-54_ford_custom_cars/

 

Thanks roddin-shack.

I think I like the chromed discs most on your car.

 

Thanks jonzcustomshop, that has helped a lot!!! I spent the whole afternoon looking.

But now my wheel/tyre guy says that wheel-covers probably won't fit on my new steelies because of the centres, whatever that means!?!?

 

Not me personally, but I know an older guy who has a couple really beautiful kustoms with full wheelcovers on chrome wheels. From more than a foot or two away it just looks like the hubcap continues all the way to the outer edge of the wheel. It looks really good with a relatively smooth cap like "full moons" or sombreros, and in fact real Caddy sombreros DO extend all the way to the outer edge of the wheel so all that would show is the very edge of your wheel anyway.

And of course if you don't love the look you could always carefully paint just the outer lip of your wheel to get that stripe of color.

 

If those chrome smoothies are, as I suspect Wheel Vintiques series 10, then you can buy snap in bullet centre caps from the same company, or through Summit racing. This is how they look, with apologies for posting radial tyres on the trad Forum. Just trying to help.

 

The Caddy caps like these look good on 52-54 Fords,pay no attention to my Avatar but 4 U.S. Mags for $20 I couldn't pass up

 

Thanks Kripfink.

Like these on the 55 Lincoln too?

I think mine are those wheels. Do you know if original or repro wheel covers can be adapted to fit "our" wheels, such as these (http://www.mcveys.com/parts/pc/viewPrd.asp?idproduct=1&idcategory=5 ), or 53 Cadillac?

 

14" wheels and tires were first used on production American cars in 1957 and 58. They immediately became popular on custom cars because 1) they were the latest thing 2) it was an easy way to lower the car 3) the latest hubcaps off 14" equipped cars would fit.

 

What looks better on mine do you think - 14" or 15"?

 

Here's a couple of pictures I found online from before I bought the car - it's making me think I should have left the wheels alone!!!

 

I would say yes on the Lincoln,looks like the same set up.comparetively cheap solution too
http://www.summitracing.com/int/parts/wvi-1027-1/overview/

Summits international shipping is real simple using their i-parcel method too.No hidden duties.

 

I used to run these 55/56 Dodge Royal Lancers with bullets.





Just finally finished my 53 Caddy's with 53 Ford f150 teeth.





I'll run these for a while but I've got some other ideas for later.


BB

 

love it!!!

 

I'm loving the 54 Ford Lions Crest wheelcovers at the moment, and think they'd be perfect for my 55 build...

Would they fit my wheels?

Is $450 for these redone ones a good price?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/e...tem=350863710229&ssPageName=ADME:B:BODO:MOT:1