VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND NEWER 1946-1948 Wheel color

I am having a senior moment. Is the back side of 1941-48 wheels black or body color?

I was under the understanding that only the outside of the wheels were painted body color over the black base paint.

Wow new one to me ...After all my years on this site I do not remember ever seeing a discussion of the wheels being two different colors

When I was a kid we toured the Olds assembly plant in Lansing. I vividly remember a steady stream of black wheels hung on a special overhead conveyor. A guy would look at the paper tape machine, grab one of a bunch of spray guns, spin the wheel and paint one side. Every fifth he would paint both sides. Later those painted wheels went through a paint oven and ended in a room with a ton of tires and tire machines. Guys would check the paper tape machine then mount five matching tires on the same color wheels. Put them back on the line. Near the end of the assembly line the tires and wheels were mounted on a chassis with body mounted. Amazingly the color of the wheels matched the body. Fifth one went in the trunk. I remember asking if they ever got the wrong color wheels for a body. Answer was not very often. That was about 1950 or '51.

Don't know if Chevy did the same as Olds but suspect they did. No need to paint the back side as it wouldn't show. And I am sure the bean counters wouldn't like the "wasted" paint.

First that was amazing....you were a kid.
Now that I think of it at least 1955 Chevrolets were the same way. Only the spare tire wheel was painted on both sides.
Not sure what they did in the '40's.

Gene,
I'm still kid in an old man's body. I do get serious every now and then. It is surprising what you can remember and what you forgot or usta remember.

I just may have an old wheel off a 47 Chev car that has not been repainted. I will dig around for it and (assuming I find it)maybe it will answer our question.
In the meantime I will call an acquaintance who has an original 41 Fleetline and ask him to check his wheels for us.
Surely someone else out there has an original wheel from the 40s to confirm or otherwise enlighten us.

dick

My father purchased a NEW 1956 Chevy 210, 4 door sedan.

Color was two tone, Harbor blue/Nassau blue.

Spare wheel was painted body color on outside only, inside of spare wheel was black.

Remember, as a teenager, thinking how "cheesy" that looked in the trunk, with only one side painted body color.

4 wheels on the ground looked so much better, after I had the "port-o-walls" installed.

I am curious?The original wheels I found for my 48 were painted on both sides..That's if I remember correctly?They were not black as the my 48 is

The only 41-48 I ever had was '42 and it was BLACK. All five wheels black on both sides. I guess that's not much help.

For whoever might ask....The spare was pinstripped....like the four on the car.

I would guess the back of the black wheels would have dull sheen ..If this is all correct??I had mine powder coated black gloss both sides

A few threads down on this forum is a discussion on "Wheel Striping" with a couple pictures of an original 1941 wheel painted gray on the outside. As mentioned, I had a complete set of these untouched wheels before they were sandblasted. All wheels were gray on the outer face, black on the back and black on inside tube surface. Mike

I see that,I guess its confirmed

Not so sure Bruce. That is a 41. My acquaintance with the original 41 Fleetline looked at his per my request. Unfortunately he told me the inside of all his wheels are just to bad to give a definite answer toward being same color as outside(brown).
I looked at my extra wheels I accumulated and come with the following.
2 wheels 15 x 5 came off a gray 48 I stripped in 69/70 -Both show gray on the outside, inside and on the area for tube.
2 wheels 16 x 4 came off 47 or 48 & still have old snow tires mounted. From what paint that is left on them it appears the inside color matches the outside color on both. I'm leaning toward the same color on 47/48 but what we really need is someone with an original 47/48 whose wheels are good enough to really confirm. I painted mine the same & really don't remember if they were that way or not.
And the saga of wheel color continues.
dick

I am not 100% sure but I think the back of the wheel on my '39 was body color.

I should not always second guess myself???I am 90% sure that my original set of wheels I got from a 48 were body color front and back...I like I would have remembered if they were black on the back side

I came across four of these wheels at the Charlotte Auto Fair today that appear to be untouched originals. While it's hard to see in the pictures, the fronts were green, the backs were green and the inside was black with green overspray. The vendor told me he personally took them off a 49 pick-up. I thought it might be a useful information for this topic. Mike

Those are some REAL thick pin stripes.Do you know what year the wheels are?

You know,I just looked at a bunch of striped Chevy wheels and I must say that thickness may just look correct??original I would agree .Can you measure them ?There was a green wheel,white stripe combo in 40..42 &48....

The wheels that were on my 48 are buried in the back of my garage. Beleive they are the orginals, as the lady that owned the car from 1957 didn't change anything except the engine twice. Might try to get to them tomorrow.Need to do some garage cleaning anyway.

Would like to see them

I too have an original wheel somewhere in the garage that came off a '48 Aerosedan that Cousin Dave and I parted out in about 1974. I'll see if I can come up with it sometime this weekend.

Cool,looking forward to seeing them

Calling Uncle Ed. Uncle Ed, come in, over.

If you are able and willing, will you take a light and look at the back-side of your wheels, please? Black or green????

Someone else PM Ed and ask. He is probably tired of me asking for favors.

These photos are of the wheel I saved from a '48 Aerosedan I parted out in about 1974. I saved it because it had enough of the striping intact to figure the placement and width of the stripes. The car and wheel were Satin Green - which I've always thought looked beautiful when new, but fades to a really ugly green. Anyway, wheel front is green. Wheel back is green. Inside has a little overspray, but mostly black.