History prewar 15" rims?

Hi all, I'm in search for rim information specifically for prewar 15" 40 spoke rims. I'm ***uming they would be Kelsey Hayes rims. and I would think being that small of a rim diameter it would use "balloon" type tires for off-road or military use? not sure on the width I'm guessing it would be between 4-5"..? A guy I talked to about it said that he thought that Ford may have used them for some rare use, but I'm very skeptical to say the least. As always any input is always greatly appreciated. thanks!

 

I can’t think of any OEM applications. Ford didn’t produce 15” wheels till 1949, and those were stamped steel.

 

I believe Buick had some 15”ers on some of their models but not positive.

 

Buick had 15" wires on the 53, 54 Skylarks I think which would have been 5 on5" and Chrysler had some also around the same time and good thing about them, they were 5 on 4 1/2" which is ideal for a Ford rear end. Mate used the Chryslers on his 32- 3 window and made a ring and welded it to the face of the hub and ran 32 caps.

 

There were no doubt more but the "pre war" 15 inch wheel that I am familiar with is the 37/42 Chevy 3/4 ton pickup "Artillery" wheel (I researched the GM Heritage archive year by year) that is extremely popular with the Chevy AD truck lowrider brigade and you also see them on the fat fender Bomb lowriders. They never were offered after 42 though and most folks call them 37 3/4 ton wheels.

If the tires were offered = 700 15 there should have been other brands running the tires.

 

He said 40 spoke, so that means wire wheels.

 

I knew that but have never seen a 15 inch Ford wire that was made pre war. Nor any other prewar wire for that matter and most disappeared around 1936 +/-

Now, early 50's Chrysler Imperials had optional 15 inch wire wheels that often ended up on early Fords. There was a red F1 pickup that ran around this area in the 60's with a set. I wanted those wheels for my 51 Mercury at the time.

 

Not wire wheels, but maybe Studebaker as another option? I have some early/mid 50s Studebaker 15 inch wheels, fairly narrow approx 5 or 5.5 going from memory. 5x4.5 bolt pattern, same as small Ford or Mopar. Did Studebaker ever offer a wire wheel?

 

Being as he said the F word = Ford I am going out and ***ume that he wants a 15 inch wire wheel on a 5 on 5-1/2 bolt pattern and the only oem one I know of were on the around 53 Imperials. Meaning that in the 60's I knew them as 53 Imperial wire wheels that were non existent in decent shape here in the valley.

 

Then I find this on Ebay.

 

Hey thanks for that! I was too quick on the draw....

 

Thank you all for your replies didn't know this would spark up as many replies. I don't necessarily think the guy was correct about them being a Ford rim that kind of why I was investigating other prewar manufacturers. The rim looks narrow such a 5in wide. It was also center hub-ed, no offset, like the later Skylark rims I've seen. I'll look into the Studebaker rims I haven't seen those

Also those 15in artillery wheels are really cool. I haven't seen them in a 15

 

I have a set of 5 16" Studebaker wire wheels, not sure of the year as I bought them at a swap but would ***ume early to mid 30's. They are 5 on 4.5 and around 4" wide. Only problem is the back part of the hub will not fit over a 10" Ford brake drum. Stude must have had real small or unusual brake drum set-up.

 

Lincoln and Mercury went to 15" (5" width) in 1942, but again these were stamped steel wheels. The Lincolns had hub cap clips.

 

So I just found this image and there's a 15in rim on the bottom that's marked..

 

Whoever took that picture can’t read a ruler. Don’t be fooled.

 

What info are you looking for? Yes, there were plenty of 15" aftermarket wheels available pre-war, even some 14". Like you said, they were made to be used with the "Air-Balloon" tires. Most were between 5-6" wide.