Hello, Black steel wheels were stock items on most cars from the beginning. But the way we all made them look gave each of us some individuality on our cars. It was the easiest and least expensive item to modify for a different look. In the beginning, the popular Model T’s and A’s came with black wires, so it was a standard look. But as time went on, it was something shiny made the stock car look different from the other brands on the street. Hubcaps…and for the custom look, chrome reversed wheels…etc. By now, it was simply to pop off the stock hubcaps to show the black rims. This was the standard thing to do to all of the stock cars from the dealer showrooms and lots. For some, it was to get rid of the whitewall tires by mounting them on the inside. Now, people had the all blackwall tires and the standard black rims. This look was simple to do and the whitewalls did get covered up from road grime within weeks. By the time this fad was going on, custom wheels made their appearance and are still the standard for a custom look. The factories even put custom wheels on most of the cars off of the assembly line to keep up with the custom car market. Now, it was blackwalls with aluminum color and style rims. So, in 1960, we decided to go all silver rims with blackwalls. We could not afford custom wheels, yet. but, we did try to use the small chevy hubcaps in the center with and without the beauty rings. But, what about the blackwalls and black rim look? This was the final look of the 58 Impala in 1965, black Buick rims, and blackwalls. (after the Buick Skylark wires got stolen) Today, if you go down any street in the USA, you will see “Sally Soccer Mom” driving a huge, extra large SUV (that she can barely see over the steering wheel, let alone see out clearly) with 24 inch black spoked rims on blackwall tires. This is the new trendy thing to do and now it also includes the fancy high dollar sports cars, big convertibles, undercover cars, and the FBI. Jnaki There is one thing to be certain, blackwall tires hide most of the curb rashes much better than when we all ran whitewall tires. (But, putting blackwalls with black rims on a Bentley convertible? Everyone has their own choices and looks…)
IMHO, nothing beats black Henry wires!!! 17" on rear, 16" on front Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Just what I had on this very same car in the early 1960's. Probably more of the car guys had red rims rather than black, but I thought red clashed with a lot of the body paint colors.
My kid made me paint the wheels black; turned out to be a good idea. Sent from my Nexus 5X using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Beautiful Model A Russ, never seen that body style before. Is that a Briggs bodied Cabriolet ? We never got that body style down under.
Are you using Baby Moons 10 1/8 dia on later model Ford tuck rims? I have some 1974 Bronco 15 x 6 rims on my 1939 currently - looking for nice Baby Moons hub caps to fit.
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