Did guys paint the wheels on their Biscaynes, Custom 300s, etc back in the day, or just put full wheel covers on. I'm only aware of Body color, and Black, and possibly red, but that seems more a modern take. Think a 1959 car, still pretty new in 62-63
I bought a 60 BelAir sedan in early 64. It came with full wheel covers which I removed and ran the body colored wheels until I painted them black and added Baby Moons just like everyone else at the time.
Yup, they were black and/or matching body paint around that time. But car owners did like to personalize their vehicles back then no different than "modern times". It was a simple project that even someone with zero mechanical skills could tackle in one day with a spray can. Bigger, wider wheels and tires were starting to be a thing on late 50s, early 60s vehicles which caused miss-matched wheels being painted either to match paint or just to match each other. I don't recall seeing red painted wheels on late 50s vehicles but I do have semi-distinct memories of seeing white for some reason. I personally bought a pair of black, steel, 15", Corvette rally wheels for my new slicks that I thought looked a little too drab, so I spray bombed 'em silver. But that was in the late 60s.
An older timer than me who was a 1950s hot-rodder told me first thing he did was red wheels, small caps and white walls, whatever car it was. In the 60s, my early time, mostly black wheels, white walls and Moons, or "dog dish." Also remember late 50s and early 60s, if you bought new hot cars, and many guys did, you used an order sheet. If you bought the hot Chev with the 348 and the 4-speed you cheaped out on hub caps and thus "poverty" caps,
Had an older friend who ordered his Chevy with Poverty caps and went straight to the parts house and picked up a pair of baby moons for it and changed caps in front of the parts house. Ot car but on my 69 Cutlass S I ordered it with poverty caps and the next morning after picking it up Dec 17, 1968 to be exact had the tire store put chrome reverse wheels on it (4 for 79.95 +tax and mount and balance) and popped the poverty caps back on. Remembering that when we went cruising in my buddy Jim's folks Plymouth with the shark tail fins we would stop a ways up the road and pop the full hubcaps and toss them in the trunk and take a rag and wipe the wheels down and head to the AVE. He also figured out that with a socket and ratchet he could crank in a quick rake either down or up in the front for the race car look until he got busted by his folks one night when he is rolling down the Ave with it jacked up in front and they pulled up next to him riding with friends headed to dinner. True though, first thing we did when we got a car that didn't have nifty looking wheels was make a change that usually involved caps or paint. When I got my 51 Merc in 1963 the wheel colors didn't match and it didn't have caps and I took a half pint of black enamel and brush painted the wheels.
Well looking through my old photos I have of Taboo and my grandpa's cars he had in that 60-63 time frame, only one had baby moons. All had black steel wheels, but mainly full wheel covers. The 55 Ford was his first car in 58/59 when he got his license, the 61 he ordered brand new and it was supposed to come with body color wheels and poverty caps, but showed up with black wheels and full covers. He told me these photos of the 61 were the only time had all the caps on as he was usually racing the car. Sold the car late 62 to pay for his wedding to my grandma. Bought the 60 Impala in 63 and it already had the baby moons on it. Taboo on the other hand had steel wheels painted red based of the few color photos I have of it and from the R&C cover showing red wheels. It got chrome reverse wheels by the 64-65 time frame.
I had way more black wheels than anything else until I could afford cheap mags. I remember my brother's 55 Chevy 150 had body color matched wheels with tri bar covers. That was early to mid 60's.
If you were real poor, some of the guys would paint their wheels black or dark gray and paint all the lug nuts and the wheel centers silver so they looked like mags from a distance.
I was so poor I couldn't afford to paint my lug nuts, but as soon as I got some lawn mowing jobs things changed. With this being a painted wheel thread I won't show the new wheels.
I like the look of poverty hubcaps...did them on a couple of '62's as well as my '65. Love it when you have lots of power under the hood, but the plain jane look outside.
Bob, I couldn’t agree more with you. I love the look of poverty caps on almost anything. Your two examples are perfect. Shoot, I’d rather have wide steel wheels on the back with poverty caps all the way around than mags or other alloy wheels.
I remember that a 1967 Olds Ninety-Eight would come equipped with small hubcaps and beauty rings. Somehow you couldn't call the top of the line car a poverty item.
@327Eric Hello, When my brother bought his new 1958 Impala in the fall of 1957, it had full hubcaps and black rims. The first thing was to pop off the hubcaps, exposing the black rims for the A/Stock car class competition. Then as the weeks rolled by and competition advances allowed folks to experiment. Entrance gate: Lion's Dragstrip The first approach to the 1957 Lion’s Dragstrip entrance gate. We left the full hubcaps at home. The 1956 4 door Chevy Bel Air hardtop had that Blue/Green color matched rims. Our friends painted them black and added small round center caps. Custom is what you could afford and had access to at Dave’s House of Chrome, accessory shops, or Pep Boys. Our foray into the world of cheater slicks was ok for several weeks, as more competitors in the stock classes were using them during time trials and eliminations. Then after protests from those that could not afford to buy extra tires not from the factory parts departments, the tech committee deemed them non-factory and banned the use of them during eliminations. Time trials, ok, Bill Moxley from the Moxley Tire Company, makers of cheater slicks…photo G. Sharp The neat thing was you could run any large or small hubcaps, pop them off, race, then pop them back on and drive back home after the day's events. When the cheater slicks arrived on the scene, this sales guy/owner of the company parked next to us (Impala days) in the pits. He somehow continued until the photo in 1960. (our 1940 Willys B/Gas Coupe in the background) He was a relentless sales guy. Eventually, my brother fell to the sales pitch and bought a set for the 58 Impala in the early days. cheater slicks...different color rims The Impala with our own 7 inch wide, Bruce Slicks during the time trials, which were allowed for the class. The eliminations required stock tires and rims. We did drive it on the streets with the small center hubcap, but it looked funny. At least the dark rims told everyone that something different is underneath. Jnaki with small hubcaps, it was a finished look for cruising to high school and our Bixby Knolls teenage hangouts... The most used combination was the blackwalls with bright silver paint. It was the closest to being like chrome wheels. But, most of everyone saw this look as we cruised around So Cal. Then, in the fall of 1961/spring 1962, we were able to come up with a new look. Chevy small center hubcaps by themselves with silver rims, then adding chrome beauty trim rings to make the final chrome look with full coverage. This was the high school look from 59-62. When I finally decided on using the small Chevy center hubcaps, I had black rims, then it looked too stark, so I painted the rims, silver. That made it look like a business model. So, I went to the local Chevy dealer to see what trim rings were available. Then a close friend from high school gave me a set of trim used trim rings. Once I settled on some Chevy slotted trim rings, they looked great on the 58 Impala. Now, there was no need to get mags, or chromed rims. Impala beauty trim rings from a page in the yearbook... One of my good friends from high school popped up in a recent perusal of our high school year book from 1962. I could not remember how I bought those small center hubcaps AND the beauty trim rings. Now, the case has been solved. We did some bartering with buying stuff from our Precision Racing Engines Shop discount program and in return, he gave me the beauty trim rings. But as teen episodes go, after high school, we never saw each other again. Some of our friends went to the far reaches of the USA , colleges, military, and future jobs. We even missed each other at those funky reunions. (20,30,40…you get the picture.) Note: But, once the small center hubcaps were on over the trim rings, it was hard to get them off without damaging the trim rings. So, in our HS metal shop class, I made a flat head curved tool that was as long as a foot long hot dog. One of our early tools to be made for a metal shop class grade was a chisel. Only this time, the chisel head was heat treated, curved, looked like a flathead screwdriver hooked, and made out of a long rod. The rod fit inside of a flexible, rubber tubing and that allowed me to pop off the small center hubcap, before anything scratched or dented the beauty trim rings. It was the famous paint can progress from whitewalls to changes to all silver with blackwalls in 1961 and hubcaps to the Skylark wire wheel days. thanks, @themoose As we left the gas station in 1965, we had just turned over the keys and Impala to our young friend for his high school cruising days. It now had black rims and blackwalls. But, the rims were stock Buick bolt patterns as the axle hubs were converted for Buick Skylark wire rims earlier, prior to the final sale. No hubcaps for the final look…
homemade reversed rims painted black on all these ol Chevs,..the white stuff in the 59 pic is hail, not snow.
Bought a brand new Pontiac LeMans in 1967. Small caps. As soon as I got my tax return I bought the chrome reverse. That’s when I found out all four factory steel wheels were bent in some fashion. But the car turned killer with the chrome. Kragen Auto supplied the wheels.
In 1969-1970 my 65 Falcon had dog dish hubcaps on black wheels. Then I added trim rings. I ran the car that way until I bought some American Racing torque thrust wheels. Those are still some of my favorite wheel style.
My 1953 Chevy in 1959. Black steel wheels without wheel covers. Sometimes ran full flipper wheel covers.
I grew up in the sticks, SW IA farm kid. My 62 Valiant originally had body colored wheels that I had Painted black (and I outlined the Good Year diamonds on the tires with whitewall paint), my 63 Fairlane had body colored wheels, neither had wheel covers/caps. My best friends had 55 Mercs, the one had red painted wheels with four bar flippers and darned if I can remember the other's wheel adornment. I remember in the early sixties chrome wheels were very popular in the area for the bucks up guys. For what it's worth, this car is located less than five miles from where I live. I stumbled on it one Saturday while garage sale'ng in Council Bluffs IA. This was all 1961 to 1965. The pic is of my Fairlane in 1965 when I lived in LasCruces NM.
My experience is in far Northern California. In early sixties, red wheels on modified cars were common. By the mid sixties, painted black wheels and baby moons were more common. I set up my 57 BelAir Tudor with black wheels, black walls, and baby moons in summer of 65, using station wagon wheels and larger tires in the rear and installed a 327. I wanted the sleeper look, but most of my buddies hated the look and bugged me to get white walls when I quickly wore out the first set of tires. Unfortunately I never took a photo of the car with black walls.
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