Hot Rods Bonneville - Marvin Whiteman's T Roadster wheels similar to 1941 - 46 Chev truck rims 16 x 6 ???

The wheel pictured at top is from a 1941 - 46 Chev Truck 16 x 6 with 6 lug BP

The car in the photo is the Marvin E Whiteman Track T Roadster which ran 143.76 MPH in the C modified Class at Bonneville in 1950

I have been trying to figure out the origin of the rear rims on the Whiteman Roadster but to date without much success.

When I spoke with Marvin Whiteman sometime ago he said he ran Firestone Indy Tires on the rear and thought the rim size was 16 inch ( not 18 inch as has been suggested ) but he could not remember the origin of the rear rims.

The 41 - 46 Chevy rim pictured might be a clue as to the origin of the wheels on the Whiteman roadster as they appear to have a similar style reversed rim but with Ford centres.

I presume the Chevy wheels were made by Kelsey Hayes and if so perhaps they made a similar wheel in period for Light Duty Ford Trucks.

Does anyone know of a Ford Light duty truck wheel that is similar to the 41 -46 Chevy truck wheel in the photo?

However - Whiteman may have used a Chevy truck rim hoop with Ford Centres on his roadster.

I would appreciate if anyone can shed light on this subject!

 

Those rear wheels on the Whiteman roadster are 18" hoops welded to 16" Ford wheels, maybe that is what Marvin meant by 16", cause they aren't the high clearance wheels. There was a great tech article on the HAMB a number of years ago explaining how it was done but I cannot find it now hopefully someone has a link.

 

Jimmy B. The rear wheels may in fact be 18 inch. I do recall the article you refer to but I cant find it either.

The style of the Chevy Truck rim is similar to the wheel on the roadster - therefore I would like to discover if a KH hoop was made in period for light duty trucks in 18 inch - because if it did exist then that is perhaps what may have been used.

I am trying to exhaust all avenues

 

This is the thread http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/...elies-how-to-with-photos.263768/#post-2798964

 

That's the thread I was thinking of also. If you are going to use old Indy tires they came in a bunch of different sizes 600x18, (maybe 650x18, I have yet to see a set) 700x18, 750x18 and the more common 800x18 (half treads) not to be mistaken with the 1" wider Monza 800x18 from the late 50's. Make sure to size the rim accordingly to fit your tire, I have seen narrow Indy tires with the side wall bulged out on wider early rims, and it looks bad.