I have finally decided what to do with my hubcaps, not that it has been a major problem, though. When I restored my truck in 1999, I bought the repro hubcaps, all nice and shiny stainless. Later I found out that the hubcaps originally had the FORD letters painted red. I went out and bought red paint but knew I did not have the steady hand to paint the letters. Then after more research I found out that the hubcaps were not bright stainless (as they were in the '48-'52 models) but were painted argent (silver).

Well, I went up to the loft of my garage and got out my 4 original hubcaps. I had painted them white back in the late '70's since they were all rusted. I took them to my school's body shop class and had the boys bang out the dents and sand blast them. Two of them looked pretty good, one looks pretty rough (too many dings and dents) one now has some wholes on the edge where the rust was. I bought one on ebay that arrived yesterday that looks good....

What I am asking is this: do any of you, especially in the rust free zone of our country, have any original hubcaps you want to sell that are in decent shape?

thanks,
staying closer to the light side, abe

 

Abe,

What plans do you have for the stainless ones? I may be interested if you still have them. Contact me offline if so. If you ever decide to paint hubcaps again just mask off most of the cap and spray paint it. Then use 00 steel wool to clean up around the letters. I used this method and it worked okay.

 

Mine might be stainless as well. They are repops and the little refrigerator magnets are not sticking.

They look just like these from sacremento vintage:



Are they incorrect? Thats what they list for 48-56.

 

Brian,
that hubcap is correct in size and shape and FORD letters. But for the '53-'56 trucks Ford used argent painted caps. I am not sure why. It may have been because of the Korean War, which ended in late 1953 and they just continued those caps for the rest of the model series. As I said earlier the Repop dealers are in business to make money, not to be historically correct. They also know that guys want more chrome and stainless and these will sell as the original silver ones would only sell to lightside nerds like me!!! Ha-ha!

Look in my gallery to see a photograph of a '54 in a dealer showroom and you'll see the painted hubcaps. Several years ago at the Carlisle Truck Show I saw a '55 that was as stock as I have ever seen and of course in great shape. It had won the year before at Hershey. He had painted hubcaps on his truck and he confirmed that they were original. This is when I started to think and research it. Later when I have some time I will post a pic of that here or in my gallery.

abe

 

Another method to paint lettering on stainless or chrome is to paint around the letters with poster paint, like kids use. Then mask the rest of the part and spray paint. The poster paint will wash off and take the spray with it.

--van

 

Here is teh picture of that Stock '55 F-100 I mentioned earlier. This truck was the best restored stock truck I have ever seen. He was the type of guy that had all the bolt heads all turned the same way.

This is a good shot of what the hubcaps should look like.[IMG]trucks.com/user_gallery/tmp/102/102567.520.390[/IMG]


abe

 

While we're on the subject of hub caps, when I bought my 56, the previous owner had repro caps in the box of stuff, the caps look like they go inside the wheel circle, but the ears on the wheel s are on the outside. Which is right? Do I have the wrong wheels?

 

I too am on the hunt for orignal hub caps for my 54.. please, if anyone has connections, post!!!

 

If you have an F100 your wheels are wrong. I think they were the same up to '60. Someone will correct me if I'm wrong. Also, the larger trucks(F2 & F3) for 48-52 had wheels with the ears on the outside. This was probably true for 53-56 F250 and F350 also but I'm not sure.

Vern

 

abe

Mid Fiftys sells new unpainted caps for $20.00 each

 

THe easrly wheels were used up to 1965. IN 64-66 you could get the later style rims. It was confusing in the 64-66 years, with both wheels.

56&02- You have the wrong wheels.

53-56 used the argent painted caps because of the Korean war and Ford cutting back on costs to boost profits.

Barry

50 F-1

 

Here's an original hubcap off a 56 F-250. The size and lettering is different from the F-100 version, but I'd be willing to bet that similar materials were used for the F-100 version. I don't think this hubcap or the others I have were ever painted argent...are you guys sure that the F-100 versions were?

 

THe F-2 or F-250, 48-56 were all stainless caps. The 53-56 caps F-100 were painted. They were superceded to the 6A 1130-A cap ( 48-52 ) which is stainless, so technically the stainless are correct. Look on Ebay, there were several painted ones listed a few days ago. I think I( have one in my garage.

Barry


50 F-1

 

my 56 is a F100, I wonder if the last owner put F2 wheels on her. Thanks.

 

F2 and F250 wheels are 8 lug. You probably just have F-100 wheels made after 65-66...

Vern