Hot Rods Mis matched wheels front and rear?

A car my pal in Bakersfield owned.
ET's and Real Rodders wheels.

 

Broke a 5spoke when I lost a tire years ago on the way to Famoso. Turned back home, sprayer a crusty pair of chrome reverse 55 wheels black, mounted the tires and headed back out to the track. Ran it this way for years! Wasn’t my favorite look but didn’t look horrible imho.
Scott


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Because that’s the way is was

 

Only acceptable on Drag Cars and running rear slicks. JMO Different widths are also ok.

 

I had Straight Line Fever and never turned corners much. So it was mismatched bigs 'n' littles for me, mostly because of economics (aka: I was poor). Stock rubber and steel 14's up front and 15" Corvette, regular Chevy bolt pattern, steelies in back. Formula Hillbilly, Mickey Thompsons on the street, Boy Racer slicks at the track.

 

When I had the stock rear in my 55 wagon. I ran torque thrust on the front and Cr agar GT 15 inch on the back and then went to 14 inch steel wheels. Now with the ford Rear I have torque thrust all the way around. Ive never bought a new mag or steel wheel in my life. Except my wife bought me 4 new wheels and tires to fit my wrecker dollies. I also ran the cragars on the front of a 55 GMC using 54 hubs and stock 6 hole steel rims on the rear.

 

My Comet................

 

Funny, you would show a 65 comet. I got my wheels from my friend who ran them on his 64 Comet Cyclone.

 

Mine are barely noticeable. 6" wide on the front, 7" wide on the rear.

 

So, pretty much every example has been steel in the rear and some sorta mag up front...BUT, what about, lets say Cragar SS in the rear and 5 spoke Ansens on the front? In other words different mags on the rear/front?

 

For me, certain styles of wheels look better as a wide rim, while others look better as a narrow front wheel.

Here are a few examples. The black ‘33 3 window is my “barn find”.

 

Some cars just look right with mis matched wheels and others might look a little strange. I pondered for quite a while about that when ordering the wheels for my Cyclone, I finally decided to run big windows in the rear and kidney beans in the front. In my eyes it looks right. (Still under construction)

 

Kabinenroller that wheel combo looks good on the merc

 

My Falcon...chrome Steelies out back with M & H DOT “muscle car” tires...and the old straight spoke style Torque Thrusts up front with pro tracs...
And Mutley’s Comet was my inspiration..

 

What miss-matched?

 

Thank You!
I am anxious to finish the project and see the wheels in the daylight!

 

The practice was so common around here we called the concept Minnesota Mags.

 

I think that one example of this is the differences in a hot rod/race car and a custom. In my mind a custom likes matching wheels while a hot rod is a little less refined. Sometimes both styles of cars have wider wheels on the back but custom for example would look better with the same style wheel on all 4 corners.

There was a door slammer style '57 Chevy in the neighborhood when I was a kid (actually street driven and weekend raced) that had a pair of wide Ansens on the rear and narrower American 5 spokes on the front. It looked good to me.

Now that I am older it makes sense to me, he probably bought the wheels in pairs at a swap meet and saved money and time over looking for a matched set if wheels for the car.

 

Jungle did it...

 

My SEGA legal Morris Minor . American's on the front and Ansen's on the back.

 

My old Falcon street Gasser. 10 spokes on the front and Salt Flats on the rear.

 

I was messing with my 55 today and on the drivers side I put on the torque thrust wheel. That's not too terrible. The rear tire is wider than the front and a bit shorter. On the passenger side I put a aluminum slot with one of my slicks. I don't much like that at all. I think I will flat black some chrome reverse wheels and mount the slicks on them. Those slicks on those wheels looked OK on My OT 69 Firebird.

 

As I've posted on the H.A.M.B. before ...

We ran a set of magnesium American Racing Equipment 5-spokes on the coupe throughout the '60s & '70s (late 1963 through 1981 to be exact) ... 15"x4" Torq-Thrust "Le Mans" on the front ... and 15"x8½" Torq-Thrusts on the rear:

1963 (Le Mans up front)


1964 (rears mounted on Bruce's slicks)


Late 60's (mounted on Goodyear Blue Streaks)


July 1969 (headed to Andy's Picnic)


February 1973 (all polished up for the GNRS)


September 1975 ​

I still have all four wheels ... and "someday" they will find their way back on the coupe for that circa 1964 Hot Rod look!