History Red Rim History?

Hi Guys,

I love the way the red rims and white walls look together. Does anyone know where and when the red rim style started?

 

conestoga wagon

 

uh oh....

...the red rim discussion

 

Any time someone brings up red wheels lately it turns into a SH*T STORM,,personally I like red painted wheels and they have been around ever since Fred Flintstone built his first custom.

But in the recent years many guys associate them with RR's. HRP

 

Oh, the storm is about to hit!
There are plenty of people on the HAMB who swear it all started just a few years ago but there are others of us who know that it was not that unusual back in the 1960s. I accidentally found a 1950 or so Oldsmobile ad that showed red rims peeking around the wheel covers on a blue or green car, which to me proved that at least someone (the artist) thought it was a cool look. And Pat Ganahl referred to that red edge as "very important" or "crucial" in a book on custom cars and hot rods.
Since there are so few color photos of kustoms from the early 1950s I'm not sure anyone can give an exact date as to when it first happened, became popular, and/or lost popularity.

If you do a search you will find at least a couple threads on just this topic. They usually degenerate very quickly into an argument between those who like them and those who hate them. (My opinion: Hating something is NOT the same as proving that it is not "traditional," everyone fails to take regional differences into account as well as how quickly some car mods went in and out of style, etc..)

Are there perhaps too many cars running around with red wheels? Yes. Do they usually look good? Yes. Should every car have them? No. Do the dark red wheels showing around the edge of the full wheel covers on my '53 give it a splash of color in an otherwise very drab exterior? Yes! Do I care if anyone else likes it? Not really. Would they be appropriate on a 100% "period correct" kustom? Don't know, but I do know there was a LOT more variation in kustoms and custom cars back in the 1950s than there is today!

 

my 37 caddy had them from the factory,but I think they were out before that,on my car it was part of the color combo that came in certain combos,they also had green and black available too.Harvey

 

Roman Chariots, done.

 

I know that's a joke but it actually brings up a good point: high-end wagons really did have the wheels painted bright colors (including red), and so did some high-end cars in the 1920s and 1930s. Since kustoms basically started as an attempt to turn a relatively low-end car into an approximation of high-end cars I would not be surprised if they were part of the equation from the very beginning.

 

When I was a kid in the '50's in Vancouver, the first thing everybody did when they got a car was......wait for it....paint the wheels red! Next thing was to rattle-can some spots of primer on it so it looked like you were customizing it......

 

It started right around the time people started calling wheels, "rims".

 

THANK YOU!!!

everytime I hear that word, it reminds me of another word...gangsta

 

I'm too young to have been there, but from old magazines and pictures from family who were there back in the day, I think steel wheels in colors other than black became fairly popular in the mid 50's, as you can see them on magazine cover cars from the mid 50's up into the 60's when mag style wheels kinda room over. My grandfather and my uncles have a small handful of color photos from the 60's that show customs and hot rods with wheels painted to match the exterior or to accent it. Red was used as often as any other color, and like most things from the past, many a builder today has decided they like that particular styling cue more than other options, which makes it look more prevalent now than it ever was back then.

IMHO, red wheels don't bother me at all if they match the color scheme or are the only other color on a car.


Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!

 

Wheels? Rims? Ya mean those circular hunks of metal with mounting holes that make yer car move?

 

Red wheels are traditional and look great, and they've been done to death, and they're still awesome. It's ALL been done to death. Have at it.

My favorite is when I see a hint of red peeking from behind nice wheelcovers.

 

always in style...black with red WHEELS and WWW's

 

Why did you have to post that photo Larry,,darn,I miss that car! HRP

 

I know that full caps with red rims were fairly popular in New England in the mid to late fifties, as were Ford/Merc wheels with chrome Model A lug nuts. I love both those looks.

 

Well, my ol' Buick was Charcoal Gray, with Red wheels from the factory. And it rolled off the line in 1938, so I guess Harley Earl was a R**Rodder...

 

I thought the red steel wheels were a Cadillac or LaSalle thing, and that guys painted their wheels red to make it look like they might be running a Caddy drivetrain. I know I've heard that story but no idea if it's true.

 

Buick Factory color scheme, Windsor-Gray with Dante-Red wheels, from 1938:



I think a lot of the 'big' cars from the '30s had this color scheme, or similar, as an option. And I'm sure it didn't take long to trickle-down to the 'lesser' cars since, well, it looks great.

 

acording to my paint codes . my Pontiac had them from the factory with the wheel covers
I seen pictures of the cars my dad owned and it looked like a thin redline on the edge of the tires . broke up the solid black and chrome look

 

Red rims started out around the time when the Spanish arrived and drank the water and ate the spicy food

 

That's exactly what I did in the early 60's. Then I added porta-walls and went cruizn!

 

Not sure why some think it's a "new" thing. Red wheels has been around since the hot rod culture began. I know it's not "new", because this is a picture of my 49 P15 coupe I purchased in 1979, and it had em then.

 

one thing for certain, red wheels did not become uncool until the posers on the HAMB started posturing about how cool they were because they don't like them.

there is a direct correlation between the length of your cuffs and your hatred for red wheels.

you could replace "red wheels" with "small block Chevrolets" and make the same statement.

 

excellent !!!!

 

Mine is the original paint scheme...black with red rims and red pinstripe....I think 1930 was the first year ford used the combo.

 

HAAAAA! After reading these two posts the red wheels conversation and the explanation for the "hatred" of them is settled as far as I'm concerned. I don't need to ever have another conversation about it. What more needs to be said?

 

Wow I didn't know this post was going to be a hot topic. Thanks for all the responses.

 

50+ years ago, my aunt drove a white '57 Buick 2 dr with red wheels. Factory. Red is absolutely acceptable wheel color on a Buick!