I've always loved the look of early Halibrands or similarily styled early Indy roadster wheels, however could never afford. I also fell on love with the "new" American Racing Salt Flat Specials. I am considering a new set of wheels and have come up with this idea and need your input. While looking through some mags I ran across this picture of George Poteets 32 Ford Roadster pickup and it's wheels. They are 16 X 6 and 18 X 6. I love the tint and the look. http://www.rodandcustommagazine.com/featuredvehicles/0602rc_1932_ford_roadster_pickup/index.html On an earlier thread today I ran across another picture of some early Halibrands and began to think about how to perhaps get the wheels I want at a reasonable cost. I started to look into available sizes for Salt Flat Racers and found that they make a 16 X 5.5 with 2.75 back spacing. They also have a 17 X 7 with 3.75 backspacing. I think these would work well with 5.50 X 16 and 7.00 or 7.50 X 17 in bias ply. Since these look really new question is how to age them. How would the wheel look beadblasted (they are aluminum) and then either clearcoated or tinted in some fashion, Any thoughts on how to tint?
The magnesium wheels on George's car were made in southern California by Ron Blondel. http://www.roadsters.com/kittyhawk/ The Salt Flats Special wheels are easily identified, thanks to their recessed lug nuts and polished, spun rims. In my opinion, you could improve their appearance by blasting the entire wheel. I'd use sand for a coarser finish. Any powdercoating or clear paint you put on them will still look like a coating. This stuff won't: http://www.roadsters.com/gibbs/ More wheels coated with Gibbs Brand: http://www.roadsters.com/mag/ Dave http://www.roadsters.com/
If that's your '32 chassis in the pic..I would say you don't need any other wheels..the ones on the chassis now are killer looking. Spend the nmoney somewhere else. MHO.
I wish it were my chassis. I am hoping if I can put on the salt flat wheels with the right finish it might look a little like it. By the way that is probably one of the best detailed chassis I have ever seen.
I would do sandblasing, i often wondered the same, they look great as is, but would look outstanding all one color. The skinnier the better to.
I would sand blast them, then i think I'd experiment a little by thinning some flat black or gray paint to a stain, and then wiping it on and then wiping it back off till you get the desired look. I would experiment on an old ricer wheel first till you get the right look. Might work.
I use McKay graphite spray even on original Halibrands and they look great. And it comes off if you don't like it
those american salt flats are cool rims. my buddy ordered some about 5 months ago and was told they'd take about 4 months to recieve. he and the tire shop he used called american and were told "sorry we have no records for your order!!??" 4 months just to paint the centers?? it's ridiculous, theirs no wait for the regular fully polished salt flats. his plan is to order a polished set, "no waiting" and antique the centers, he just needs to figure out how to go about it????
Buy the polished wheels, and sandblast them. If you start out with the half polished wheels it might be hard to get them to match, as you would be starting with two different finishes on the two different parts of the wheel. Let us see the wheels when you are done with them.
The American Racing Salt Flat Specials are a handsome, traditionally-styled modern wheel. If you can't stand the 20 year wait for them to get "broken in" by just using them, you can work on them by a number of methods to age them. Regardless, the guys in the know will still be able to identify what they are from 50 meters. Personally, I think they are an excellent choice if the overall look is important, but absolute authenticity is not.
ps engenering is making "real" salt flat wheels in magnesium and alloy what annoys me most bout the american racing wheels is the american racing text cast in one of the "spokes" if you like other halibrand style wheels, check www.realroddershwheels.com
CORRECTION TO LINK: www.realrodderswheels.com no biggie, you just got an unneeded "h" in the link. cool site. -85% jimmy
SO-Cal has a new cast, knockoff wheel that looks good. I have 16X5.5s withn 5.50 Excelsors and 16X6s with 7.50 Excelsors on a new flathhead 32 roadster that I'm doing.
i saw the socals at the hot rod and resto show at indy ....i had to ask the guy if they were ps wheels......he said they are their wheel now...they look dead on ....didn't hear the price.....brandon
had the americans......they ended up on my buddy's 32.....went with mag small windows instead.....hahah ....and yeah .....i can't afford those socals.....anyway.....hahaha brandon
After looking @ this post with the link to Ron's wheels, All I can say is that I am glad that I ended up with the ARE-SF's for my 55 bird. I don't think that I even paid $1250.00 for all of my SF's and heck,they're even polished and have the optional KO's. I kicked around doing a burnished style finish also, but I like the way the wheels look polished. Most of the race wheels were always polished to a high gloss when the were in the Big Show-Indy, so that look to me is era correct when they made their finest appearance. I priced PS Engineerings versions also and they were in the same league as ARE's but look much better visually,even took a day off of work to have Phil pull a wheel so we could see if he could make a set for the 02 T-bird that I have. Well that was nearly 2yrs and a set of tires ago and I have left him messages, but to no avail as to what the status of the order I placed. No calls back, so I talked to ARE & got a price, they'll make a set within a week of the order & will ship them directly to the shop. All for about the same price of the originals that I bought for my 55. Now I just have to dig up the money to set aside so I can have a set made=lol! I'm to busy spending all my money on aluminum in other forms=lol! Good luck with the search.
If anyone is going custom route don't forget about HALLIBRAND they are still making wheels. Try www.hallibrand.com I think.
they can narrow wheels if you want an 7" or 6" wheel but 4.5", 15" in front an 8"-10" 16" in the back rules!
Weld Wheels just relased a new design that looks similar, but different: http://www.weldracing.com/hotrod/ They're good about making a wide range of sizes and custom backspacing. It might be another option. ~Scotch~
Last time this topic came up someone said to run aluminium wheels through the dishwasher (when your wife's out of the house ) with detergent to discolour (age) them. I accidently did this with a kitchen implement and it worked. Just bare aluminium, not clearcoated. I don't know if it would actually work with wheels, or if it would damage them. Anyone know?
I prefered the fully polished look for my Model A. I ran painted steel wheels with baby moons for about 16 years and decided it was time for a change. They were the closest in looks to the kidney slot halibrands for alot less money. I bought mine through http://www.fastlanespeedandrodshop.com/ for under $600 for all four wheels.
AHotrod - Did you start with the fully polished wheels or the painted versions? If they were painted is the texture the same for the center and the rim? How coarse is the finish and have you sealed them with anything? I realy like the looks of the wheel. Thanks for posting.
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