One of my first cars was a 1949 Ford business coupe, back then (early 60's) there were few aftermarket wheels available, so I slammed it by heating the coil springs and installed thin whites (3/4") on a black wheels with baby moons. After that, I s****ed the undercoating off of the front wheel wells, primered them and hand painted them brilliant white. That was cool here in the NW back then. Anybody remember doing this to the wheel wells or was this just a local thing?
that was long before my time, but my father often refers to white wheel wells. I think it looks awesome, personally.
Not all cars can pull it off. Really lends an early '60s show car vibe. If you're ********, you upholster the wheelwells!
My radical '57 Chev, built in Milwaukee, WI, in 1964, a true survivor, BTW, has upholstery above the rear end-pearl white rolled & pleated. I had a complete white ch***is, including wheelwells on my '64 Impala in 1965-66...used to get grief from the local car guys in Denver when I moved out here that it was "farmer's car." R-
The white wheel wells were the hot lick over here for a while too but I think it takes a dark solid color on the body to carry it off right. some even had lights under the fenders for cruising the ave. Some of the guys here used white road paint (stripe) that seemed to hold up pretty well back then.
Sure, I remember that. I never did it after seeing a good friend work hard to keep them clean. Putting a name on the car, baby moons, lowering in the front were big hits also.
I plan on painting my 60 Impala wheel wells white. Here is Jeff Myers Caddy. It sure looks purty... Happy Trails, Mick
A buddy from high school had a red '52 Chev with the entire undercarriage painted white (wheel wells, too). Looked nice, but the maintenance!! Geographically, Bill split his time between WLA and Phoenix. This would have been late '50s/early '60s.
Yep, Santa Clara-San Jose (Ca) from '58 to early '60s...Wheelwells were most common, but there was a rash of semi-customs that went through San Jose Steam Cleaners, then jacked up and prepped for that white undercarriage! Lights under the wheelwells, too. Urzi's Auto Supply (a chrome accessory store with upholstery shop next door) had Moore Wheel Well Light kits in 6 & 12 volts with brackets and pre-installed wire loom (white wire) just for that purpose. (Er, I have 2 of those kits, 'just in case'...) Local police were writing tickets for fenderwell lights back then. Something about 'confusing other motorists', pretty sure it was a local ordinance to discourage individuality...
Going for something similar on this one. Car is going black, flames go back on, wheel wells bright por-15 silver. Should make the tires stand out better and look like a cross between custom and rod.
My brother had a 57 Chevy 4 door hardtop white primer with a shiny black top back in 69-70 and his front fender wells were painted white with green lights to light the fender wells at night. Look cool but he was always touching up the wells because they really showed the grime.
As I remember, the reason we had to remove the undercoating, was it would bleed through the white paint. It was tar or petro based, once it was removed, they stayed white, but you had to repaint them. Thanks , I'm amazed at the responses.........
I'm from the North East so I guess my pals and I are a little different. My friends and I would loose the front bumper on our rides then shoot RED paint inside the front wheel wells and also the lower control arms and front cross member. The rear end pumpkins........we shot in white. It was a cool contrast. My closest friend fu#%ed up his Chevelle when he painted the rear housing in red to match the color of the body. A few weeks go by.....he changes his mind. Now he repaints the rear end and the anti sway bar in white spray cans. It bled thru while it cured. The poor schmuck drove around with a PINK rear-end. Shall we say the Chevelle looked a little light in it's slippers?
When I went to school at Artesia High School Artesia, Ca. in the early 60's my '49 Ford Tudor was pretty much the way you described your '49 Ford. We would also paint just under the front and rear bumpers/gas tank white.
This is how we did it in the late 50s, early 60s. Did the wheel wells my 37 coupe in 57, my 34 in 58, my 56 F 100 in 58, my 57 Bird in 60 and so on and so on . Pics of my 40 I put together in 75 and my Deuce I did about 5 years ago.
A friend of mine had a '65 Impala with the wheel wells and frame painted white. This was in the late 60's in Connecticut The car was turquoise, we thought it looked pretty "boss" back then!
When I got my 60' starliner it had white painted wheel wells and frame. It also has snaps on the front wheel wells for upholstery, along with the underside of the trunk lid and hood. I found reminants of diamond tuft white with black ****ons.... The car is Monte Carlo Red; with chromed window bezels, no lower broom chrome or emblems.. Interestingly, the wheelwell white is over old undercoating; but it is so far deteriorated that I can't tell if the undercoating bled or not! I can only imagined what it looked like when it was first done.
When I picked up this 32 it had the entire underside painted white as well as the firewall and dash with a white tuck and roll interior. White undersides were a popular touch back on the day.
The Jalopy Journal
