History The History of the Red Wheel and Whitewall

Ok its probably not anything to get excited about but i earlier in the week i got the pleasure of going and walking through an abandon junk yard from the 40's-70's. Was taking alot of pics and noticed this lay on the ground. Im sure its been there longer than the current fad.

 

Always been a ton of haters on this site bitching about red wheels but when my car was new ( and green ) underneath the hubcaps the wheels were red. I think red wheels are as traditional as taking a corner at speed and losing a hubcap.

 

Nothing looks better with black suede than red wheels and whitewalls.

 

One wheel and tire found on the ground of a junkyard in Iowa in 2011 is hardly a Darwin's "Origins of Species"...

 

That was a huge argument with the wife when i was building my car. "Everybody does it" she says...."because it looks F'ing good" would be my comeback.

Eventially.....i won.

Every now and then, i get an itch to change it up - change either car color or maybe wheel colors (thinking black on black with wide whites still)...i bring it up with the wife and she responds "no, you need to keep it black/red". Funny...it was just a year ago that she was throwing a hissy fit over this color combo.

 

Oddly the Hamb is all about copying old ideas and yet everyone gets their panties in an uproar when old ideas get over done.

red wheels with white walls looked good then and now

really isn't anything original about traditional, it's the opposite if you think about it....

 

Looking back, I remember Red wheels on a lot of cars . I worked in a service station that re- capped tires . Whats that tell ya .............. scrubba

 

My father bucked the trend. In the late 50's he built his 31 Model A and painted the wheels a faded red, kind of rose color. This picture was taken when the wheels still had the original paint. Since then, we have re-painted them...same color though.

 

BRAVO, SIR! More true words have never been spoken on this forum!

 

The great thing about this site is the pure knowledge, not the cry babies and keyboard commandos. Build your traditional car with the parts and paint choices you like. Fad or not, it makes very little difference to the giant smile you get when cruzin your baby!

 

Every now and then something comes along that is timeless. Red wheels and whitewalls are one of those somethings.

 

Yep. The "traditional" argument gets old on here especially when some of the "traditionalists" wouldn't know a real hot rod if it ran them over. Not saying I am an expert. I come here for the knowledge and answers I need.

Got in a "discussion" with a fellow rodder at a show lately who told me my truck wasn't a real hot rod because it had a mustang II front suspension. Yet his "traditional" (rat rod hunk of sh#t) was sitting on airbags. Jeez....didnt know they put airbag on cars in the '40s and '50s.

 

Red.

White.

Blah, blah, blah.....

Let's see more pics of the rusty tin.

Rich

 

My dad painted the wheels on his dark green, slammed (to 50s standards), 53 buick red, that was around 58.. he even said he preffered to not run hub caps back then.. bottom line, run whatever you want, most likely, there was at least one crazy teenager in the 50s who did it

 

^
Amen Rich

 

Yeah, but it would look cool leaning up against my garage!

 

Yeah good ol' red steelies get a bad rep these days. I have always loved the satin black body with red wheels..in my area there isn't alot like that. So I like it!

 

History of the red wheel and white wall:

Way back when Joe Greaserfuckhead put whitewalls on his flivver and started getting pink stinky critter all up on his slim jim.

Frankie NofendersMcGee wanted some of the action, so he painted his wheels bright red and added whitewalls and all the young flapper bimbos came running over for a ride on his hot rod.

When other guys saw how well those red wheels with whitewalls attracted all the googlely eyed chowder gaggers to them they copied it and the rest is history.

Red wheels and whitewalls everywhere.

 

I had red wheels and w/w in 1958 on a 34 5window,I`ve liked the combo ever since

 

Actually airbags do go that far back.

 

Aluminum, chrome, black, red, or body color. Seem to be what people used depending what exact time period we're talking about.

I don't think red wheels are a bad look, especially with a black or darker color car. Classic, like a tuxedo.
It's just been overdone the past 10 years so it's become a bit boring.

 

EXACTLY! I always get a bunch of shit from the peanut gallery here for wanting to turn my '55 chevy into a straight axle car with radiused quarters in true early 60's fashion. People bitch about too many gasser styled cars too...I figure if that's what you like, then who cares what other people think.

 

A-man!!!

 

I like the way you think man but the way you speak is a little suspect!

 

We had this old can of high lead/cadmium content Red enamel that was kinda thick from opening and capping it so many times and we brushed some of it on the rim and before it dried we slapped the hubcaps on so the wet paint would "glue" the hubcap teeth to the rim so it wouldn't fly off or squeek. Then a thousand miles later we did it again after greasing the front wheel bearings again on schedule. It was Red for the same reason Levi's are Blue.

 

More importantly, where is this yard? I was raised about 30 miles from the big "O", wondering if I have ever been there.

 

I agree its Timeless. When I foun a origonal set of 40 ford rims, the paint under the years of caked on dirt from laying next to the barn was red and had black pinstripes next to where the hubcaps would be. The gentalman said they were there from his brother from 1962. Timeless!

 

Thats a good idea!

 

In the early fifties, ('51, '52) I was hanging around a gas station where there were a lot of cool cars. Some did have red wheels and whitewall tires.

 

Hell, I had red wheels and bias blackwalls on my '67 Chevy Biscayne in 1977. Always liked red wheels, ever since I was a little kid. So, the "red wheels" thing has been around since at least the early '50s. Sounds traditional to me.