Hey I ran into a pair of metal porta walls at the local flea market. Can anyone inlighten me on them. Are they stock off of a certain model?
METAL portawalls??? Off 1950's BRINKS armored car I suppose!?!? I guess a flat must be a painful experience! Are you sure they aren't staging disc's for spoked dragster wheels or something? Hey! Maybe thats why Falfa had sparks coming from his tires in AG! Steel Portawalls!
I bought a set of 5 of them off ebay a few years back for $30.00. They fit Ford 16" wheels (like 40 Ford Wheels). They clamp onto the wheel with spring "fingers" like a beauty ring would. The wide whitewall part ends up coming close to the tire's sidewall, but they do not touch it. I think they were an aftermarket item.
They were a 40s accessorie for most makes of cars. Some clamp under the hubcap and some clamp in the rim.
And we were complaining about guys running Olds valvecovers on SBC's! Hahahaha... Someone needs to build a trad car using ALL faux accessory parts just to show what was out there...good or bad. Steel whitewalls...those fake overhead looking Flattie conversions...clamp on Quickchange covers...whip antennas with the huge spring... What else was on the ginchiest gookwagon "back in the day"?
I can just see all the ratroddderzzz combing the swaps for those.......now they can have rusty tires.
Well porta walls were very much a hot rod accessory in my youth. I run them today because I ran them back when. We couldn't afford real whitewalls. They are actually getting hard to find. I have stockpiled a set. We picked up a set early at Hershey. We had lots of offers to resell them...we wore them like a horse collar. It's an oxymoron but there is nothing fake about port-a-walls IMHO.
Tommy You must have had money to be able to buy port-a-walls. I used a rubberized paint from Western Auto to paint my whitewalls on. Looked good for pictures but they got all crackley after driving. Ol Blue
Yes. I had a good job and lived at home. Before I could get legal tags on my first car, (we did it by mail back then) I got a ride to Penn-Jersey for some baby moons, beauty rings and a set of port-a-walls. The first hot rod dollar I ever spent. Probably close to 30 bucks. Maybe that's why they appeal to me so much.
Metal whitewall "Spats" were very popular in the 30's and 40's. They gave a whitewall appearance without the high cost of real whitewall tires. Here's a picture of of one of my all time favorite 3 window's. It belonged to Don Frew and ran around Salt Lake City in the late 40's, early 50's and had the Metal whitewalls. Mick
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