School me on Kelsey Hayes STEEL wheels

I bought a set of what was supposed to be ''40 Ford steel wheels" the other day. They arrived today and sure enough they are 16x4 with a 5/5.5 bolt pattern but the centers are stamped "KH" and the rims themselves are stamped "Kelsey Hayes - Made in USA".

I'm not complaining at all. These wheels are in really great shape. I just wonder how come (if in fact these came off an early Ford) the car would have been equipped with KH wheels.

Someone educate me.

TIA, JH

 

Generally speeking, in the 30s and 40s car manufacturers bought a lot of their wheels from wheel jobbers. Same thing with pistons, valves, water pumps, distributors, generators, spark plugs, fan belts, fukin' rubbers, etc., etc.

KH made wheels for almost all manufacturers, including Ford.

 

I have some I believe are 4.5" wide 5 on 5.5 bolt pattern but don't accept hubcaps also stamped KH. I have been told that they are jeep wheels?

 

im running a set of KH jeep wheels on my roadster thing....the center is huge, but i don't relly mind them at all, kinda cool.

 

I don't know about jeep, without hubcaps, sounds reasonable.

Some 1934-1935, also 1940, Buicks had 16x4.5 disc wheels with bolt pattern 5-5 ½..but they had big hole hub caps.

 

KH was the benchmark wheel manufacturer of the day. The "el-cheepo" wheels were made by Ford.

 

What is the difference between the big hubcap & little hubcap KH wheels? Is there a noticeable difference or are they too close to tell without trying a hubcap on them?

I don't have a '40-'48 cap to see if it would fit. These do have little dimples for a cap to grab though. Sure hope a Ford cap will fit them. I want to use them on the next car.

JH

 

To clarify Kelsay Hayes wheels; KH made wheels for manufacturers', using manufacturer specifications. KH was the benchmark wheel manufacturre in the 1930-1940s. The different size of the hubcap is due to year and manufacturer. Generally, the larger the bolt pattern, except on Model A, where the bolts were outside the cap, the larger the hub cap. specifics? Now that's a book.

 

I have a couple of Kelsey Hays 16" 42 bent spoke rims. They pretty cool.

 

i have a full set of 16 inch by 4 on my roadster steel wheels and a set of 16 and 17 kh spokes

 

16" wheels with the 4.5" bolt pattern for shoeboxes were optional. A friend with a beautiful 50 coupe had them from the factory. I was told that they were more popular in the country where people thought you got more ground clearance.

16"ers were also optional on Ford trucks with the 5.5" BP up into the 60s that take the 48 style hubcaps. If you see a 60 Ford P/U with 48 hubcaps check the tire size...probably 16"