55 ft. lbs. does sound right, but in the 30's and 40's who had a torque wrench?
I use a reg. ole 4 way lug nut wrench,.. or you could use the hand crank wrench.
you'll know when it's tight enough.
You could tighten them with the crank supplied for the purpose and then check with a torque wrench to see what you have. I've always used 50#. If paint is on the friction surface, recheck after using a while.