Ford steel wheels - what are they from?

Yeah, I know....a Ford

I've got a set of 16" x 4-1/2" Ford wheels that have the later 5 on 4-1/2" bolt pattern. I got them to rob the rims for replacements for rusty regular '40 rims and to make some reverse-rims, but as I had never seen this size and bolt pattern combo before, was wondering what they would have been originally fitted to?

I found Wheelkid's tech piece on Ford wheels and he states that this size was available as an option in '49-'52 - so are these just plain old Shoebox wheels? No great loss to the world if I butcher them?

This is Wheelkid's photo:

 

Stepdad bought a new '49 that I seem to remember had the 16s IIRC. But I do believe for sure that they were available.
Dave

 

I believe what you have there are what you think they are . BUT Ihave been told that these 16's were fairly rare and are desirable as is .Someone on here ought to know what value they hold .I didn't know those years used any 16's until recently.They are pretty cool wheel,I'd check other options for replacement rims before cutting them up.

 

Shoebox wheels, like you said. I have some too. I looked for them for a looong time before I found them. That said, I tried to sell a pair a while back with not too much luck. So... Yes, they're valuable, but only to the guy who's looking for them. Like someone with a passenger car 9" in their hot rod that wnts to run 16's.

 

The first '49 Fords had them ... because the '49s were released in June '48, the cars went through lots of changes - most of the industry had gone to 15'' wheels during the '46-'48 period, so Ford followed suit by late '48.

 

Yes they are just plain old 49 Ford wheels. Cut 'em up, hang your air hoses on them, do what you will, no one will miss them.

 

Here in Australia they were used on the coupe utes from 49 to 59 and the cars got the 15" wheels. I'm not sure on width but the later year utes probably had something wider than 4 1/2". Our coupe utes finished in 58/59 and then the Falcon utes took over.

swifty

 

Thanks guys, sounds like they're for the chop as soon as I find some suitable '40 donors for the centres......unless someone pays me not to do it in the mean time!