what color should wheels be?

[steve fritz]

What did Ford paint the stock rims in 1955? Were they originally the same color as the car body? The entire wheel , both sides , or just the outside , with inside being black paint?

 

[paul2748]

For the Thunderbirds, wheels were painted body color both sides, except for very early ones which had a red oxide type of primer. I don't know if the sedan were the same.

 

[steve fritz]

This would be for a 55 Ford passenger car.

 

[Daves55Sedan]

For full-size cars and wagons, the entire wheel was painted the same as the base color of the car. Cars which had two-toned paint jobs had the wheels painted the same color as the lower portion and top of the car (for styletone paint schemes). That was the base color.
But on Unique two-toned paint schemes, the wheels were painted the same color as the middle portion of the body, which was the base color of the car. It seems those were very rare and only on Fairlane models.
As I recall, F100 series pickup trucks also had their wheels painted same color as the truck body. Maybe not always true for the heavy-duty F series trucks.

 

[steve fritz]

Thanks Dave!