To be more specific: While Clarence is out of commission for painting I've been contemplating wheels/tires for him. One "fer shur" thing is when I get him back I'm going to measure the needed back spacing and order up a full set of 5-spoke American Racing 15" wheels. For an alternate look I'd like to modify a set of 4 of my 16" x 4 1/4" wheels to have a 4 1/2" bolt pattern, as that's what Clarence uses. I'd like to be able to have him look old timey with (more-or-less) original 16" wheels and narrow tires. SO NOW THE QUESTION: has anyone done or seen a way to modify these 40's to early 50's wheels to have a 4 1/2" bolt circle? I'd like to keep the hoops and as much of the centers as possible. I like the look. ALTERNATE SCENARIO: if I can't modify what I have are there any (relatively) narrow 16" wheels with 4 1/2" bolt pattern available? Either OEM or aftermarket?
WheelSmith in Corona Ca. has 16x4-1/2 rims and can put centers in the with the pattern you want. I had some 16" done and that could use 46 Fotd hubcaps. They were not the original caps but ones they make to fit their center but look like stock 46's
The lowest price Fords in '49 had 16" wheels, maybe through '51. Probably hard to find now, they were all junked in favor of 15"! Most Mopars were 4.5" pcd x 16" in the '30s and '40s; Nashes and Studebakers had 4.5" pcd, probably were 16" pre and post-war for a while. Mopar wire wheels from the 30's are 4.5", but may have been 17" (I'm sure many were, don't know if they ever had 16").
If your going to run hub caps these are ready to go > https://www.speedwaymotors.com/Spee...Wheels-5-on-4-5-4-75-2-75-Inch-BS,283782.html
Atch, if you want some 49 Ford 16" wheels I'll sell you some. But you have to come to the middle of Iowa to get them, no shipping. Or wait until the HAMB Drags weekend.
Thanx; I'll have to check into these Monday. A bit spendy, but I guess in the long run it might be a good option. I've got about a dozen of these. What I need is for 4 of them to have 4 1/2" bolt pattern. Thanx for the offer, though.
If he means 49 car wheels then the will have the 4-1/2" pattern, but I assume the center is going to be different and will not accept the truck hub cap
Mike....keep in mind the 49 ford passenger wheels will have the 4.5" bolt pattern but will only take the "pop over" hub caps from '49 up. Another alternative is the early IHC 16X5" pickup wheels. The early wheels have a standard offset but in the 50s the trucks became wider so IHC turned the centers around for a more positive offset to fill up the wheel well better. These wheels have the hubcap bumps on the inside of the wheel center like 40-48 ford passenger car wheels. I tried popping an early ford hubcap in the early IHC wheel and it almost fit. The cap was just a teeny bit too big but with massaging I think they'll work. Here's a photo of one of my IHC wheels. Center hole size is correct for my hot rod.
You can always run the 50's Ford car caps if you go with the stock shoebox 16" steels. I ran '51 caps on my '54 panel.
^^^^^This is what I did. Look very similar to late ‘40s wheels. Maybe Dodge, Plymouth etc will work also. I think ‘39 Dodge has 4” or 4&1/2” wide 16” For 1935 wires, we cut the centres out and welded in new plate with required stud pattern.
Yes I have a set of the '49 Ford wheels with the 4.5" pattern, but like said above they only take the '49 and up style hubcaps. I do have a couple IH wheels like Rocky shows, but don't want to sell those.
My bad, folks. I thought that all of these wheels had 5 on 5 1/2" pattern (and that's what I have several of). I didn't know that the '49 cars had 5 on 4 1/2" pattern. Alchemy; I'll send you a PM. However, if I'm reading the above the earlier car hub caps will not fit these '49 wheels. Is this correct? If so do baby moons fit them?
Thanx. Sounds like that between Summit, Jegs, and Speedway I shouldn't have any problem finding baby moons to fit '49 car wheels.
I didn't say that... LOL. But that was the 'standard' size available 'back when' until 'smoothie' chrome wheels became popular. Most GM cars used the same size in that era, so somebody must still make them...
There WAS someone making the old style Ford inner bump (block letter FORD) in a outer bump style cap I believe. I just heard of them never seen them.
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