That's a perfect look. He nailed it, especially with the subtle white paint on the hub caps. Attention to detail. Car is not overdone, which seems to be the problem on so many hotrods.
And this is so cool... The matte black wheel paint shade is perfect too, not shiny. Works 100%... High gloss finish (usually powdercoat) is an easy mistake to do...I've made that error myself. They can be too glossy, which looks out of place with the dull black tires. You almost need to make the tires super shiny, which throws off the overall look. At a higher gloss level, the color begins to shift from black to a cloudy dark glossy color Here are my rims. They did an awesome powder coat job, but the high gloss finish turned out to be excessive as they were getting reflective. I just ordered 4 lbs of this "Matte Black" powder, 7-20 "gloss units" and it's also in their Super Durable line of powder. https://www.prismaticpowders.com/shop/powder-coating-colors/PSS-11181/super-durable-matte-black
Here's is an extreme level of shine. While the car is beautiful in every way, the wheels are so shiny they they actual look transparent. It looks more custom than hot rod.
Hello, We had all sorts of black painted wheels and rims of sorts. The black paint was a common place in our backyard garage. Most items for any chassis work was sprayed a black for rust prevention and looks. They all start out with whatever color is under a full wheel cover from the factory. By the time this fad was going on, custom wheels made their appearance and are still the standard for a custom look. The factories even put custom wheels on most of the cars off of the assembly line to keep up with the custom car market. Now, it was blackwalls with aluminum color and style rims. But, we saved money by spraying silver paint on the black rims to give it a different look, than shiny steel. So, in 1960, we decided to go all silver rims with blackwalls. We could not afford custom wheels, yet. But, we did try to use the small Chevy hubcaps in the center with and without the beauty rings. It got the standard treatment of primer coat, and two coats of normal black spray paint from our Standard Brands Paint Store, near our high school. Spray paints were fairly inexpensive and with proper prep + several coats, it was almost scratch free. As a matter of fact, these newly painted 9 inch wide rims were pristine when we sold them. They never got a chance to meet the M&H slicks. For out first build of a drag race coupe, we had a great time spraying old rims black to give it some attitude to go along with the dark red primer. In late July 1960, we had ordered a nice set of modified, 9 inch wide, 15 inch Chevy rims from Henry’s Machine shop in Bixby Knolls. It was to be our base unit for the wider, larger M&H slicks we had ordered from our supplier in Los Angeles. But, what about the blackwalls and black rim look? This was the final look of the 58 Impala in 1965, black Buick rims, and blackwalls. (after the Buick Skylark wires got stolen) It was the last view of the 58 Impala in a parking space at a gas station where the new owner worked. Black on black on black… YRMV
This thread *** Black steel wheels*** I really hate them. Oh so boring. I really like my black wide 5 ALUMINUM wheels.
Not sure why I like the black rims on vintage cars but can't quite buy in on the modern daily new car production.
black 15x7" pre-67 steelies on the back with radir cheater slicks for that early superstock look. looks tough although i am switching to chromed steelies
Mine, i was originally thinking of the usual red (for about ten minutes) but black was an easy choice, JW
@Irish Mike nice overall look and stance... that color combo reminds me of something from our history... Hello, Well, current appearance of your Ford truck, is what our first 1940 Willys Coupe build was for the time we owned, built and raced it. It is a great look. The overall look stemmed from the idea that the red primer paint was on sale at the local Standard Brands Paint Store. We bought enough to spray inside and out twice. 1960 red primer in the Westside of Long Beach was rare, as the flat black primer was more popular. My brother had a plan to paint the finished Willys Coupe. But, knew we had a long road ahead, of taking it apart, making modifications to the whole frame/body and eventually paint it when done. He did not want to tip toe around a finished painted body during construction and other modifications as we went along in the various stages. Besides, he wanted a yellow shiny finish with lettering on the doors and trunk. I wanted a silver paint and mag wheels. We ended up with a red primer paint we both sprayed on the whole body under a huge plastic tarp tent and concrete floor covering. I did the first coat and he came back later after a sanding coat to do the last coat of red primer. Despite the resulting photos and films I was able to save, it was not black primer, but red primer. in the pits early 1960. Jnaki One day I was walking around the newly created Lion’s Dragstrip Museum Grand Opening set up days. I was astounded at seeing this Willys Coupe sitting in the Willys wing of the whole museum complex. Along the back wall was an SBC motor on a stand. But, it is/was not an ordinary SBC motor, but one that had a 671 supercharger kit on top. It made me take a step back and think if it was our old Willys Coupe. The owner lived in Wilmington and we had dropped off our empty shell of a red primer Willys Coupe at a salvage yard in Wilmington back in August of 1960. But, the grille was a 41 and not a dual grille 1940 version like ours. Everything was similar, including a 671 supercharger sitting on an SBC motor directly in back and a black bumper bracket tow bar under the front end. Plus, the red primer paint and black wheels... Note: The red primer caught on an old film from 1960. The whole film made the Willys Coupe look like it was sprayed a black flat primer. Countless times I ran it back and forth after digitally developing the old film. But, I did ask our friend with the black 34 Ford 5 Window Coupe who was always at our teenage hangout with his Oldsmobile powered (A/Gas class) hot rod. He said, "Definitely, it was a red primer paint color." YRMV see for yourself... is it red or black primer?
@jnaki, yours was a 1940 with wipers above the windshield (37-40) and the one pictured is a 1941 with the wipers below. Sorry not the same car. JW
Hello, Nice black rims… Those small hubcaps were eventually on my 58 impala. They also got put on a 57 Chevy Bel Air 2 door hardtop and a 55 chevy two door post. Our teenage group also got together almost every Saturday mornings and compared Friday night football game notes and shenanigans in our cruising. It was similar to what my older brother's teenage friends used to do at our house from 1956-59. Those hubcaps got moved around on other cars, too, but were the mainstays of our teenage exchange styling. A new look for less cost. Then a little while later, another friend gave me a set of Chevy beauty trim rings to go with the small hubcaps. That was the final high school cruiser/racer look. We found out that during the days of owning a new 58 Impala direct from the factory, one would assume the steel wheels on a black car would be black. But those models, a 280 hp 3 two barrel carb 348 motor Impala had no such thing. The Impala came with full size hubcaps and upon popping off the full size hubcaps and using them for lug nuts holders, we were surprised that they were not black. One of our first shots of the 58 Impala at Lion’s Dragstrip in the fall of 1957 season. Then one day, a command came from nearby: “paint it black…” The following months made the competition feel better when the spray can paints took over for the steel rims and we were out in front for all to see. Jnaki But, the transformation from stock odd color rims to black painted rims to silver rims was the next logical step: The silver paint was the final step prior to the small 59 Chevy center hubcaps that got their time in the sun for the Impala. We ran it with black rims and only a small center hubcap for quite some time on the street, until a friend gave me a set of Chevy Beauty Trim Rings that fit the stock black rims. Now, that look was as close to chromed reversed rims as we could get. YRMV School Newspaper photo array... We found out that the black rims were the best look with just the small chrome hubcap. But, that with the full beauty trim rings, the silver paint made it look similar to a chromed rim. Note: After going through a modification of Buick Skylark Wire Wheels stage, in late 1964, we said goodbye to the 58 Impala... They were stock factory black painted Buick rims as our Skylark Wire Wheels got stolen and I had to get Buick bolt pattern rims. So, if anyone buys an old black 58 Impala with a C&O stick hydro, a solid steel tow hitch and black Buick pattern steel wheels, that is my old car... Yikes!
The Jalopy Journal
