I am not so sure that putting a different year Ford hubcap on your Ford would be something that would have been done in the mid fifties. Not trying to rain on your parade but I believe most folks would have been using a wheelcover from a more pricey vehicle and thus the reason the Caddy caps were used so much. You may want to look at this link for some cool Mercury caps that would fit your wheels and also would be a logical cap swap for that era: http://www.hubcaps.org/mercurypass.html Another idea would be Oldsmobile wheelcovers like these:
You haven't rained on my parade SteppinOut. You're offering helpful advice. The problem is I don't like many other caps, and the aesthetics of the 54 Ford cap really appeals to me. I really like the 53 Caddy, but not stock standard, and it would need to have the valve hole moved. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
The '54 & '55 Olds Fiestas pictured above (Post 31) were extremely popular in the mid to late '50s.........probably the most stolen wheel cover out there until the '56 Fiestas came out. Very period.
Or here, but I like the ones I posted above better than these that are more conical. http://hubcapmike.com/kustom-wheelcover-accessories.html
Hey SteppinOut. I haven't yet purchased the 54 Ford caps because my offer wasn't accepted in time. Would you definitely re-think putting 54 Ford wheelcovers on?
Some more general advice please... Were both black and red rims (under a wheel cover) popular in 54/55? And, would the wheel covers always be of a later year than your car that you were customising? <!-- / message -->
Black and red for wheels were very popular. But other, mostly dark colors were used a lot as well. Some liked to use a color similar to the body color, or a darker version of it. You did not see to many really light colors. But that does not say those were not around back then. As for the year of the hubcaps being newer than the car model you were customized. Most of the times that was the case. One of the reasons for customizing was to make your car look newer that it really was, and a easy way to do this was to swap hubcaps from a newer car. But there are exceptions to this "rule".
They look like Olds fiesta wheel covers with extra spinner bars added and a center cone. Definitely not stock items.
Back "in the day" if you wanted extra flippers, you bought another set of hubcaps to get them. These days I think they are being reproduced. Still cool after all these years.
They are the base caps for 56 Fords mostly on Mainline but available on all.They can really be dressed up with the accessory wire caps that go over them. Mason
Is there anywhere to get 3 bar flippers pre-done/ready to go? Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
I have decided to follow SteppinOut's advice and not get the 54 Ford wheel covers. I'm gonna get the 53 Cadillac ones. Thanks for this advice wheels1950.
Hey ken1939. These ones pictured above appear to have been adapeted to fit standard rims I think. Is it a photo of your personal 53's, or are these pictured for sale somewhere? Cheers, Dave
Back in the 1950s you could buy some "flippers" or "spinners" at automotive stores that could be attached to various kinds of full wheel covers. From my high school days in the 50s, I recall guys having baby moons on painted rims (usually red or black), Olds Fiesta or Olds Starfire flipper caps, at least one set of Moon racing discs......and fancy full wheel covers (like Cadillac) on a Ford or Chevy. Many of those cars had wide whitewalls, about 2 3/4" width, like came out on a 55 Chevy or new 55 Ford. A few had their stock rims reversed at a welding shop.
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