Howza Bruthas, As I have been helping clear out Edgar's pile of parts, his daughter Jacquie has been paying me with stuff instead of cash. Kinda like a barter system. Recently, I stumbled upon three intersesting wheels sitting beneath a tree. They are 16"s and are 5 on 51/2 bolt pattern. I beleive they are Ford artillery wheels. What can my bruthas tell me about 'em?
Are they like these? 16x4.5 with 5 on 5.5 bolt pattern, Stamped Kelsey Hayes inside. I don't think they were ever a factory ford wheel, maybe an accesory wheel from the mid '30's. The mounting flange is exactly like a '35 ford...so I thought they may have been intended as a replacement for the weak '35 wires and to update the look similar to a '36. They use spring clips to hold the cap on. I use the '40 and up Ford caps but they aren't designed for the clips. I'd like to find out what caps were originally used on 'em.
Stamped on the inside (where the tube goes) near the valve stem hole I think. If you were looking to get rid of them, or you find another pair...I could use one. A tire blowout fucked one of mine up pretty good.
I'm going to be running them on my '33. I found an aftermarket set of Chevy center caps that fit perfect but don't know what they originaly had.
I miss the white tire on white wall look...reminded me of Converse sneakers. Eyeball, yours have a ring welded to the wheel for the cap right? I've seen a few sets like that. Its the same wheel but some of them have the ring and some have the spring clips.
[ QUOTE ] Artillery wheels are wood. Wayno [/ QUOTE ] Wayno- I believe that they were dubbed "artillery" because of there looks and durability.
[ QUOTE ] I found an aftermarket set of Chevy center caps that fit perfect but don't know what they originaly had. [/ QUOTE ] I'm guessing Eyeball's aftermarket Chevy caps are the same type I adapted to my slot mags. They're 6.3/4" OD The stock size Bob Drake re-pro's shown in the pic are 9 1/2" OD. The larger caps are set up to snap into the internal lugs that are on the dual pattern steelies sold by Stockton Wheel and others. The smaller caps are for the aftermarket wire wheels and are a copy of the 32 Ford V8 caps. They have other styles available in the smaller size. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~` Nimrod, I'm curious to see your wire retaining setup if you have a pic convenient. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Here's a pic showing the two caps side by side.
This is the only picture I found that shows the little spring steel clips that catch the iside of the cap.
Thanks. I was thinking of something different and forgot about this style spring keeper. Fwiw - I had a set of Bob Drake's re-pro caps for the stock Ford wheels. They assured me they would fit the aftermarket steelies, but they didn't. No problem with them taking them back, but they kept the freight monies. Which I thought was a touch uncool since they told me the caps would definitely fit. Regardless I'm still buying from Drake. Things happen and that's the first glitch I ever had in dealing with them. Just got a set of their re-pro Pontiac taillights. Nice stuff, excellent quality.
Besides being stock on Mopars, some GM's and independents in the 30's they were available as trailer wheels into the late 50's at least. Mopar had 17" versions in 33-34.
[ QUOTE ] Eyeball, yours have a ring welded to the wheel for the cap right? [/ QUOTE ] Yes they do. Your car is the reason I have these wheels. I'll put a vote in for the white rims too.
Good old post back to the top. Maybe I should start a new thread on classifieds and maybe I will but please tell me what hubcaps will fit and how rare these wheels are to find? I have 3 similar as in Nimrod´s picture but one is pretty bad. Mika
I think they are called artillery wheels because back in the day all of the artillery (cannons) had large spoked wheels. They were pretty much all wood. I guess that the true definition of artillery wheels would mean that they have to be wood and on a cannon, but then they wouldn't be on a car at all. In other words it's just a wheel with heavy spokes on it (resembling the large wooden spokes). The term has taken on a new meaning that is different than the original definition. Those are some cool wheels though, I like artillery wheels. Woody
I believe big series Chryslers might be the source. They look Mopar, but most Mopars were small bolt pattern.
I don't think they're really all that rare, I've picked up a few more since this post started. I'm using plain old Ford hubcaps, they snap right on. -Jeff
I have had about ten sets of "artillery" style wheels over the years And yes artillery wheels are wooden wheels! But I have a book more like a pamphlet just on "artillery" wheels it was printed in 1947 in that book the style of wheels in question were called scalloped wheels and they were called artillery So who's right? hell if I know today is today though and everyone calls em artilleries!!! Just ask Slazzen he got my last set for his 32 pickup Ltr Dave
Any "artillery" wheel that fits a 5 on 5 1/2" Ford pattern wasn't a Ford factory part. 2 examples of wheels that fit are '36 Buick, series unknown, and '36 Chrysler, but again I don't know which model...Mullins trailers were sold with these wheels in the lug pattern to match your car. The term "artillery" is one of the slang terms everyone understands, so everyone uses it because it's convenient, though not neccessarily "correct". A few other terms that come to mind are "bubbletop", "smitty", "woodie", "post", "steelie", "pie crust", "suede", etc, etc... 302
There you go pointin out little indescrepencies again! We all know what an artillery wheel is for the most part. Doesn't matter if they're wood or stamped steel, 15- or 16-inch, Chevy, Ford, or whatever. If so and so would have asked for information on "scalloped" wheels, most would think he wanted to know about wheels with actual scallops painted on. In other words, convenience oftentimes gets the point across easiest.
Just dug out a Nov. 15, 1936 Chevrolet Chassis Parts List ... 4 types of "steel artillery" wheels are listed ... if I have offended anyone, it was not my intention. 302
Yeah Dave ripped me pretty good on those babys my bank account is seriously bruised but i came out ok because I happened to have some super Rare 38 lincoln zephyr inside door and window cranks in primo cond. for his new high dollar bomb project
Hey JUMBO JOHN I mean SLAZZEN it turns out they are not 38 zephyr door or window cranks i'm thinking 39 but am not sure? I appreciate them though thanks for the hook up on em though! Hell even the zephyr has artilleries on it! I heard you might be getting a sun tan and getting into a BOMB style car or suburban? Then you can hang with me and Chico ltr Dave
The Jalopy Journal
