Hot Rods Help identifying wheels

Hi -

Appreciate any ***istance identifying these wheels.

thanks

Bantam

 

Model A Ford cut down to 16"

 

Ah, right, I was super confused about the Model A appearance but the 16” diameter.

Common practice back in the day?

 

Yes indeed! Leading up to,, during, and immediately after WWII, 16" tires were by far the most common size and hence were plentiful used.

 

I've seen quite a few of those. Some done so good you could hardly tell they were home made.

 

I had a full set of these on a Model A recently, and was, like you, perplexed with the origins.

From what I learned, during WWII rubber rations were introduced and since a lot of vehicles were on 16" wheels by then, used 16" tires were plentiful. Many folks with Model A's cut the spokes off their 19" and 21" to fit a '35 16" wheel and scavenged for used tires. This kept them from having to swap to later brakes or get adapter rings to run the later wheels on their A's.

 

Maybe not.