what other wheels fit 49-51 fords beside the stocks? i found that 49-mid 70s. have the same bolt pattern but what about backspacing? Im looking for 15" or 16". My car will be airbagged so i need something to tuck up in the wheel well nicely without any interferance. it has nasty trailer wheels on it now that are too wide and are holding me up from lowering this thing. I want to hit the junkyard today to see what i can find. Thanks
I've run early Mustang 14" wheels front and rear in my 50 Shoebox coupe. They were 5 or 5 1/2" wide. Later on, I tried the 6 x 14" four seater T-Bird wheels. They fit fine as well. Seems like there was a 6 x 15" wheel on some T-Birds and we used those with early style non-wrinkle wall slicks on a stock tub Shoebox. This same wheel was probably on the full sized Fords. No backspacing probs that I remember. We used to run 8.20x15 tires on the rear of these cars and gained a little fenderwell clearance by hacksawing kerf wide notches in the fenderwell flange and bending the now shortened flange pieces back for clearance. Seems like up to an inch could be gained by doing this. You may want to take a look at Mopar wheels. Seems they had a little deeper backspace than the Fords. You'd probably want a later Mopar for the wider wheel. If you do search for Mopar wheels, pay attention to the center hole size. There can be some conflicts from what I understand and you could end up with a wheel that won't drop over your Ford axle hub.
Practically any full-size Ford wheel from the last 50 years or so. (Although there were a few years that use a 5 inch bolt pattern.....). Later ones seem to have more back spacing. If you are looking for 15 inchers, you want 65 and up; 16 inchers from the late 90s and up (although the steel ones aren't too pretty.). After a certain year (in the 80s I think) until '96, half ton pickups mostly have wheels that will fit as well. Later wheels generally have more back spacing. There are literally dozens of variations; I definitely recommend some work with a tape measure before you go to the yard to give you an idea what specifications you need (max back spacing, max front spacing, approximate width). Let us know if you find some cool wheels.
One further thought. Take a look at 89 or so Ranger steel wheels. They have the 4 1/2" bolt pattern and bolt right onto the earlier axles. I'm guessing the backspacing is deeper than the Shoebox wheels. (I had to pull the 10 x 15" mag wheel with 31.50 tire off one side of my 32 roadster and install the 89 Ranger 4x4 spare so we could get the roadster into a 6' x 10' box trailer for a short trip to the new house. The roadster was a roller and just barely fit into the trailer.)
(I should know better than to post on a 6 year old thread, didn't notice, but I'll leave this up as it might be helpful to someone searching in the future) Full size truck wheels will NOT fit this, they have 5 on 5.5" pattern and you have 5 on 4.5". You don't want 16" wheels because you won't be able to fit it with a reasonable looking tire. I have some 55-56 Ford car wheels for my '52, I think they're the best looking, but they'd be tough to find in most junkyards I can imagine. I'd take a look at 70's full size Chryslers, like New Yorkers, Cordoba, ect. Preferably early 70's. They had a 15x6" 5 on 4.5" wheel that would fit and has a really clean design, would be nice looking if you're planning to run something without hub caps. Just be careful as some of them look identical but are 7" wide and would probably cause rubbing issues on a low 50's Ford which was designed for a 5 1/2" wide rim. The later model wheels you'd find on something like a Town Car or Crown Vic/Grand Marquis will be 7" wide, have disc brake offsets, and ugly brake vent holes, so I'd avoid anything too modern if you want your car to have any kind of period look to it. And what was mentioned about the Mopar center hole thing is true but the Mopar hole is the bigger one, so a 50's to '70's Ford wheel will not fit on a Mopar but a Mopar wheel will fit on your Ford. I learned that the hard way.
The Jalopy Journal
