The words "played out" really don't apply to this message board. If so, then everything on here is played out....
Back in the old days, we just ran a 3 inch brush full of red paint around the outside of the rim (that was jacked up and while someone spun the wheel), let it dry and slapped a full disc on it like a Lancer hubcap and she was done. We even had a few guys who put a couple of lines of pin striping or a few white diamonds to give it that speed look (good to about 35 mph). It was basically an accent color as previously indicated. Does anyone remember wheel lights? We put amber or purple clearance lights inside the wheel wells that lit up the front wheels and hub caps with tri spinners (usually). Looked sharp until you hit a gravel road, which there were a lot of. At one time, you were un-KOOL if you didn't have purple lights somewhere in your interior, usually at the lower corners of the windshield or under the dash corners. Sometimes referred to as Sex Lites, great for parking and much softer than the overhead dome light which you usually disconnected, especially went you got out for a 'whiz'. As for, WHY we did this! It was just KOOL. It seemed like for a while everyone had a '54 Pontiac grille in their car, you had to have blue dots, your car had to be lowered in the back, and you had to have shirts. Whip antenaes were in to, and twin slanted back antenaes adorned every finned '57 Chevy and Dodge, don't forget twin fender mirrors too. Putting you girlfriend's scarf on the top of your antenae usually signafied that you were getting some or getting closer! A garter hanging off the rear view mirror was considered a prize, and remained there until you got married. I'm sure different areas of the country had different customs of what was KOOL.
i know its an ANCIENT thread but i was wondering about this too and here are some stock 53 olds wheels, the wheels on my 47 ford look like they were red long ago then painted black
I sure I am wrong...but I thought I read somewhere. It had something to do with the red dots on the Japanese Zeros??
Maybe same reason school houses and barns were red. Back then it was the cheapest color. Not so anymore.
Although the results are best with automotive related stickers, Good results can also be had with energy drink stickers. Don't overlook clothing stickers, too.
Monkey see, monkey do! Same reason a lot of wheels are painted black now. Same with wheel choice.....40 Ford steel wheels were the hot set up for many years, but that seems to have been replaced with 35 Ford wire wheels.
It was the 'printed word'... "If it don't go, chrome it! ... If ya can't chrome it, paint it red!" This was a 'saying' around the Drags in 1954. -San Jose, CA.
I still think the only legit red wheels are paint Rustoleum Red with a brush. Seems like there was always a pint of Rustoleum Red in the garage. Not flame red or any of the fancy colors of red they came out with in the later '60s or '70s but the can that just said "Red" I'm just sayin.
As for the "origins" of red wheels on motorized vehicles, my money is on circus and fire trucks for the first use. The unwashed public liked it and copied the look. Vehicle manufacturers are the dog that gets wagged by the tail, often as not, so they jumped on the red wheeled circus wagon to get another thin slice of market share. There's no one genius or supplier of things automotive we can point to and erect a statue in the park because it all goes back millions of years to the first protozoa who got laid more often if brightly colored than the next plain colored protozoa did.
My Dad had a black & white picture of his 1939 Chevy 2 door sedan that was taken about 1942. Dad was standing in his service uniform with one foot on the front bumper with a bottle of beer in his hand. He must have been home on leave? The last time that I saw this picture was in the 60s and he told me that the car was Black with Red wheels, and that the rear bumper wip antenna tied down to the front bumper. This antenna was used to pick up radio stations in Milwaukee from Manitowoc by standing it up then backing up and touching grandmas wire wash lines. He Told me that one of my uncles totaled the car when he was in the Philippines, when he got home there was only three used cars in the area for sale, and they were junk but ended up buying a high mileage Buick that was nothing but trouble. So before Chrome wheels and mags there must have been brightly painted wheels and wip antennas to make your car different from any one else.
That's the way GM made it, I just pulled the hub caps. ALMOST every time I drive it, someone says "I know a guy who has a set of hubcaps for that". I like to reply, "are they hanging on the garage wall like mine?"
I believe that you will find that your answer lies in the right, frontal area of the brain (creative associations in the yellow), although the rear part of the right side will add to the choosing of red wheels as well
Bought my first car in May 1955, dark green 48 long door coupe. One of the first things after washing and waxing was to paint the outer ring on the wheels Red with a brush, I don't think spray bombs were out yet. Then I got on the 20 buck set of moon disc installer. Every one wanted red wheels. That's when I started.
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