Technical Interesting Wheels Found, Any Ideas??

I found these wheels at a buddy’s house and I could leave them I had to grab them. They are very interesting. 5 x 5-1/2 centers welded to 13” yea you read that right 13” hoops and chromed. What is the deal was this a thing? Or was this just some ******’s way of making “different” wheels? They are welded right up to the rear edge of the rim. Any knowledge on these is appreciated.

 

Homemade, for what purpose we can only guess at... although probably for a lowrider.

 

When I got my '34 basket case it had 15" centers welded into 14" hoops the same way.

 

Low rider we thought that but the 5 on 5-1/2 center threw us. And the pinner white wall is in. I was thinking a rod someone wanted to show off their polished brakes. Lol fun to speculate

 

If you had a pre 1948 Ford custom with skirts on it, some 13" on the rear would be an easy way to drop it down some. And if just a little of the chrome rim showed under the skirt nobody would be the wiser.

 

In early Australian Hot Rodding it was common for rods to have 13" front wheels and 14" or 15" rear. Usually this was a way to lower cars as drop axles were uncommon.

 

Looks like 49-50 Merc centers.

 

Left front or pony wheels for an oval track car?

In the early days everyone was sure the left front wasn't doing anything and would often run a much narrower and small diameter tire on the left front and they often ran a lot of back set.

Usually, using wide 5 center but 5 on 5" or 5 on 5 1/2" was not unheard of.

 

Might be a tight squeeze for a hubcap.

 

Not just an Aussie thing. It was done a lot in the good ol' USA for drop and big n little stance. 13's were cheap and easy to get. Despite what the collected/selective memory around here says not everybody had the scratch for dropped axles/spindles, so being a hotrodder you did what you had to.

 

Shorter rim and tire to lower your final drive ratio for racing.

 

My guess, considering there's 2 of them, someone with a Ford straight axle wanted the lightest front wheels possible.

 

14" rims, 15" centers.

 

My first Hot Rod had 13's on the front, from a 63-64 Falcon, and 62 Fairlane as I remember.

 

I might look into getting them rechromed as wall hangers they are pretty neat pieces. Wish they could talk.

 

See if you can find some neat hubcaps to go with them...

 

Getting them rechromed would be a problem. Most chrome reverse wheels have the center and rim plated first and then welded together with silver paint over the welds.

 

These are the only 2 pics I have taken around February 1975 of my brothers 1936 Chev Panel Van on it way to its 1st Rod Run, the Chariots Stanwell Park Rod Run..........about 1 month later he I I attended the 2nd Australian Street Rod nats, me in my 1940 Dodge Sedan, Bruce in this 1936 Chev with the 16" rear wheels as pictured and a pair of 13 x 6" front wheels & tyres..........yep it sure had a rubber rake, also a Tatterfield triple carb intake on the stock 1936 engine, with 3 carbys tho' only the centre one was connnected..........had a slow but great trip to Naranderra from Sydney.......yep, back then we did whatever we could to be part of hot rodding...........Andy Douglas

 

wall art...as is ..rust is a must...

 

If you don't need the tires I can use them for my winter daily driver...

 

New chrome would cost a fortune, but some wood bleach dissolved in a big plastic tub and soak for a few days would clean a lot of it off without hurting anything. That's one of the methods that guys use when they're trying to save chrome wire wheels without taking them all apart.

 

Some balled up aluminum foil and water and a lot of elbow grease does a pretty good job too.

 

Yep, around my hometown there were cars that used 13 & 14” front wheels to enhance the “big n little” look. Those are unusual, if you bolted those to an old Ford drum the scrub radius would be comical.

 

@54delray