The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop '53 3100 - wheel color - painting wheels - other fine info.

[img]http://hardin.home.mindspring.com/1953/1stdaypics/1953_Chevy_02-01-2002_01.jpg[/img]

This is my Father's '53... in this picture you can see the original type wheel on the rear.

Dad bought some used original type wheels... and some hubcaps also - so he has a full set and one wheel for a spare.

He was saying something about getting tires put on the wheels... and I asked him: aren't ya going to paint them first? So he says: well, I'm not sure what color I am going to paint the truck...

To this I replied: it's going to be blue... (every car/truck my dad has had in my life that he bought new has been some shade of blue)

So, he laffed and then he was wondering... what color was the wheel painted?

Was it black or white ? Or did it depend on the color of the truck?

So what is the body color / wheel color / hubcap color and bowtie on the hubcap color scheme/ratio ?

Does this question make any sense?

Thanks folks,

-W


Update 03/23/2005:

Original topic:

1953 half ton - 3100 - wheel color scheme

That was the original question... then lots of other good information got added along the way.

-W

Woogeroo,

It is my understanding that if the running boards were black (on a pickup truck), then the wheels were black.

A deluxe option was available, with wheels and running boards painted body color. This option also had a pinstripe on the body "ribbon" and three pinstripes on the wheels. The color of the pinstripe was different for different body colors. Cream Medium was the pinstripe color for most blue body colors.

In 1953, the hubcaps were painted Thistle Gray. Chrome hubcaps were supposedly not available in from either 1951 or maybe 1952 through 1953 but became available again in 1954.

Tim

I don't know a thing about the original colors of the wheels, but I can tell you a tip about painting them. You DO want to mount the tires first! The "perfect" way to paint wheels in my opinion is to sand blast the wheel, etch prime the wheel, epoxy or urethane prime it (no sanding needed) then mount the tire, but DON'T bead it.

With the tire loose on the rim, cover the tire, and paint the rim. Now, unmask the tire and bead it by filling it with air. Your rims get painted with no damage from mounting the tire.

MARTINSR,

As usual, thanks for the information.

Do you have any advice on when and how to balance the wheels (with minimal scratching)?

Thanks, Tim

I think the bowtie on the hubcab is always blue.

On my green truck I think it is a bit weird to have blue though. I have been thinking of matching the bowtie to the body color.

Hi Tim,
this deluxe option you are referring to, that is in reference to the paint only? I have read about the deluxe trim packages.. which has the chrome pieces around the corner windows instead of jsut the black rubber... and on the window - like the vent window pieces... of course I think chrome was scarce on the '53 cause of the Korean war... at least so I have read - somewhere.

Hmnn.

Well, thanks for the replies Everyone.

-W

Tim, I don't have anything other than to not build up the primer and paint much to avoid the chipping.

Woogeroo,

Yes, I should have stated "deluxe paint option". Yes, the lack of chrome options on 52/53 trucks was supposedly due to the Korean War/Conflict.

MARTINSR,

Do you have any words of wisdom regarding "stick-on" wheel weights?

Thanks,

Tim

Put the wheel weights on the back of the wheel and you won't see them.

Tony M,

I am totally ignorant about balancing wheels; however, I will soon have five wheels ready for tires.

As long as the wheel is good and "balanceable", is it then always possible to achieve a balance with all weights on the back side (inside) of the wheel?

Got to be sure my suburban is ready for its 50th birthday party (4th of July, 2004).

Thanks, Tim

MARTINSR:

That reads like a good plan. Thanks for the tip.

-W

Tim,

thanks. I was just curious if the 'deluxe option' came with both paint and chrome trim - like together in a package... or if they were two separate options... now I see, separate. Deluxe paint and deluxe trim...

thank you.

-W

I just had 5 wheels powdercoated and new tires put on them and the lingo the tire guy gave me for putting all the weight on the back was "Static Balancing".
The conversation went like this:
Tire guy: So do you want us to static balance those.
Me: That mean all the weights on the back of the wheels?
Tire guy: Yup.

Good luck.
MONGO

Well, actually, it would be statically balanced if the weights were all on the back or all on the front. Here's a good explanation of the difference between static balancing and dynamic balancing: Bad Vibes: Wheel Balancing

Tim
A few errors in your original answer, running boards were always black, never body color. Rims on deluxe (5 window) trucks were body color with the contrasting stripes, number of stripes depended on wheel size. Non-deluxe cabs came with black wheels, no stripes. The "body ribbon" you speak of, I will assume you mean the belt line of the cab. That came with a pinstripe, contrasting color, which one depended on the color of the truck. If deluxe wheels, same stripe color. All cabs came with the stripe regardless of deluxe or not. If the original poster obtains a restoration pack from GM, this information will be in it.

Due to the demand of chrome, etc during the Korean war, the hubcaps of a '53 were typically Grey with black letters. I use my previous '53 wheels on my '50. You'll see them below:

http://community.webshots.com/scrip...mp;photoID=103319397&security=EEzetK

Ralphy & Brian,

Thanks for the advice and corrections.

I am pleased to hear that body-colored wheels and back running boards was a common combination. That is what I have on my 1954 suburban and I like that appearance better than the running boards being body colored.

My information came from a venerable 1954 restoration packet and from a 1998 article in "Pickups 'n Panels 'n Print" by Bob Adler, who is careful in his research. I should have said that my information was from 1954 documents and might not pertain to 1953 or other years.

1. Three stripes were used on body colored 16" wheels. The body-colored wheels were supposedly standard on 3106 and 3116 (suburbans) and on the Deluxe Equipment 390 RPO ("5-window cab"). There is no mention of stripes on other wheels, such as larger truck wheels and the 15" wheels that were available on 3600, 3700, and as a RPO on 3100 (wheel stripes might have been available in the DeLuxe Equipment larger cabs but my Truck Data Book and Restoration Pack state "3100 Series DeLuxe only" - who knows?). Even though the factory documents state that body-colored wheels were standard on 1954 suburbans, I have seen photos of black wheels in Chevrolet documents.

2. In mid 1954, a 430/431 Deluxe Cab Equipment for Series 3000 Cab RPO was available that had body-colored wheels AND running boards on at least the 3100, 3600, and 3800 models (this was different from the DeLuxe Equipment 390 RPO). The availability of the body-colored running board (in 1954) was confirmed by Bob Adler's article and by an 18,000 mile collector's truck (original and pristine) that had the 430 Deluxe Cab Equipment & the 393 Chrome Equipment RPOs (chromed bumpers, grill and hubcaps; and, two-tone interior paint and upholstery). I do not know if the earlier deluxe paint options provided body-colored running boards.

3. The 1954 Deluxe Cab Equipment option was supposedly only available on 5-window Chevrolet cabs and Panel Trucks but was (supposedly) available on 3 and 5 window GMC cabs (as per Bob Adler's article - he obtained information from Jim Carter).

If Woogeroo is painting his 1953 truck any of the original shades of blue (Transport Blue or Mariner Blue), the pinstrip color (for wheels and body beltline) would be Cream Medium color (this changed to Bombay Ivory in 1955). The hubcaps were Thistle Gray (Dupont 1953 Bulletin No. 25).

Woogeroo, If you are interested, Jim Carter sells an instruction sheet with information on how/where to paint the pinstripes (wheels and beltline).

Tim

On wheel balancing the above referenced article states:

I don't think I have ever seen my tires balanced that way. Unless the local shop's spinning balancer does more than it looks to my eyes. I also generally have never seen them put weight on both the inside and outside. It has been an either or thing. I could be wrong.

Good information in this thread.. so back to the top!

-W

There is an article in the last issue of the V.C.C.A. magazine (by Bob Adler) about wheel pinstriping.

I think it might be important to note that what constituted a "deluxe cab" option would have been different in '53 & '54. Tim is talking about his '54. Woogeroo has a '53. (am I missing something) correct me if I'm wrong here.....

As far as pinstriping the wheels goes, I think it may have been different on different years. For instance: (and this is backed up by the above mentioned V.C.C.A. article by Adler) in 1951 all 15" & 16" wheels got the 3 stripe treatment regardless of the paint option on the truck. This is what is shown in the restoration package I got from G.M. for my '51 also.

So, Woogeroo, if you really want to be exactly correct I'd get a resto packet for your '53 and check to see what it says about the wheels.

B.T.W. Jim Carter has a really nice wheel / tire combo (with the pinstripes) in his showroom if you are ever there and want to see what it's supposed to look like!

Stingray

Don't get your hopes up on the 53 resto kit. I got one and got little more than vendor lists. Adapt your serial number to a 52 and try that. They vary greatly from year to year. My 34 packet was much more complete and helpful.

I have the '53 resto pack. I don't know what Jake got for '53, but mine is as complete as the '54 pack--almost. Unfortunately there is no mention of wheel colors for '53, though it does show striping. In '53, the 16" wheels on the 3100's got 3 stripes and the 17" wheels on 3800, 3900, 3600RPO, 3700RPO got 2 stripes. The striping colors were the same as for '54.

In '53, the deluxe equipment option didn't exist. This option returned in '54 after a several year absence. Also, I could find no reference to a separate deluxe paint option in the '53 resto pack (nor in the '54). In the absence of any deluxe options, is it then safe to assume that all '53 wheels were black? If so, and if black wheels didn't get stripes, why would the resto pack show wheel striping? Something doesn't make sense here. Is the pack missing some wheel color info, or is it just me? My brain is melting.

Jim Carter says that the '52 gray painted hubcaps had black block lettering. Ditto for '53. The '54 caps changed, having a blue bowtie emblem in place of the word CHEVROLET.

Tim, above you say: "The 1954 Deluxe Cab Equipment option was supposedly only available on 5-window Chevrolet cabs..." It's my understanding that the 5-window cabs were part of the deluxe equipment option. But, a 5-window cab does not necessarily imply a deluxe cab, as the corner windows were available as a separate option (RPO 387).

Xram53,

"Tim, above you say: "The 1954 Deluxe Cab Equipment option was supposedly only available on 5-window Chevrolet cabs..." It's my understanding that the 5-window cabs were part of the deluxe equipment option. But, a 5-window cab does not necessarily imply a deluxe cab, as the corner windows were available as a separate option (RPO 387)."

What I meant to say was: The 1954 Deluxe Cab Equipment option (RPO 430 and 431) was supposedly only available on the 5-window Chevrolet cabs... This option contained the rear corner windows as part of this RPO package and thus, this package only came with a 5-window cab on Chevy trucks. But, it seems that the interior color combinations might have been available on 3 window GMC trucks.

There was also a De Luxe Equipment option (RPO 390) that had 5 windows and less bling-bling than the De Luxe Cab Equipment option (430 and 431).

And, as you state, there was the Rear Corner Window option (RPO 387) that only provided the two rear corner windows.

Tim

I wish the resto packs had more specific information about this stuff (deluxe options, colors, etc). Isn't that supposed to be the purpose of these packs? Unfortunately, some of them are lacking in some areas, and one has to resort to searching through other resources. That's true at least for '53 and '54, which are the packs I have. Some of the earlier packs may have been more complete. I know the '49 pack has a nice chart giving the colors of all the exterior components.

One other note about hubcap color. The January, 1953 issue of "Chevrolet Service News" has a chart of '53 truck color specs. It says the hubcaps were Anvil Gray (same as the front bumper), not Thistle Gray, though Thistle was used--on the grill inner bars.

Xram53,

Just to confuse us, it also looks like the the term "De Luxe Cab" in 1953-and-earlier was renamed "De Luxe Equipment" in 1954 (and "De Luxe Cab" is used for different items in 1954).

I have a 1951 product brochure that shows a three window cab with stainless window reveals as an example of a Deluxe Cab vehicle but states that the cab has rear corner windows. A different five window option is also shown as available on its own (1951). The is from a 48 page b/w sales pamphlet not a Data Book or Specifications Book/Manual.

In your 1954 restoration guide, is page 168 (part of the index) missing? Also, in the '54 restoration package, did you receive a November 1953 "Service News" (with info about 1954 trucks): with page 3 missing?

Thanks,
Tim

Hey TCLederman,

Did you get the '59 manual ok? I never heard back from you??

Hey Lance,

Yes, I got the manual and it is nice. Sorry about forgetting to say "thanks". Tim

Great Tim,

Never can be too sure about the USPS but, I figured if it had gotten lost or mutilated you would've gotten ahold of me.....

To get back to Woogeroo's wheel delima though.... In my humble (and perhaps wrong) opinion, black wheels with 3 stripes would probably be right since we know there wasn't a deluxe option and it has been stated that the resto packet shows the stripes for '53.

It is a shame that more documentation from this time period doesn't exist.

Tim,

Regarding your question about the missing pages in the '54 resto pack--yes, and yes. Both pages are missing in my copy, too. There's one page in the '53 pack that is smudged beyond legibility.

I bought reprints of the Chevrolet Service News for years '52 and '53. The January, '52 issue has the '52 car and truck features. The January '53 issue gives the '53 car and truck features. The November, '53 issue, as you know, gives the '54 truck features. If you would like to have a copy of page 3, I could oblige.

I could find no reference to De Luxe or Deluxe anything, cab or equipment, in the '53 resto pack. As has been mentioned, GM forwent the fancy stuff due to shortages in '52 and '53. The '54 pack only mentions the deluxe equipment options. I don't see a deluxe cab reference, though there is a separate chrome equipment option (bumper, grill, hubcaps). Also in '54, one must know when the truck was built to know which deluxe equipment option applies. Early '54 only had the RPO 390. This one was changed and the other two were added mid-year. They are also model specific. The term "deluxe equipment" was used for RPO 390 in '49 too, according to the '49 resto pack (which is available for online perusal at chevy.tocmp.com), and, to get back to the wheel topic, body-color wheels came with that option in '49, with the same striping as for '53. If anybody reading this has a '51 or '52 resto pack, I'd be interested to know what they say about wheel colors.

Back to the black wheels. If stripes were used on them in '53, what would the stripe color have been? Would they have stuck to the body striping colors as for the body-colored wheels? If so, one of the stripe colors was Jet Black for 4 of the body colors, and I don't think that would show up too well on a black wheel. Could the striping info in the '53 pack have been erroneously carried over from previous years?

The guy I bought my '53 from, who supposedly had done lots of research on these trucks, claimed that Chevy lost their records for the '53 model year. Of course, this guy claimed lots of other things about his/my truck and '53s in general that turned out to be bo-oh-ohh-gus.

Xram53,

I do not have a '51 resto pack but the 48 page 1951 product brochure states the color combinations and "shows" the colors on a page that has salmon-colored background and black/white photos of the various 1951 paint colors in clear glasses with the stripe on the outside. (not my idea of eye-catching product/sales brochure)

Jet Black body color had Argent Silver striping (same as in 1954).

Now, we still don't know if these were used in 1953.

Tim

I have balanced hundreds or possibly thousands of tires, splitting the weights front & back is the only way to truly balance a tire If you don't want to see weights don't waste your $$$ on static balancing. Brian

gonna put some full spun aluminum moons on 15", 6lug wheels on my 54...need to put the weights on the back because they screw on the rims...can i just do a bubble balance, or what would you suggest?...not much weight on wheels now, so figure they are pretty straight...

A bubble balance on the back side is as good as the high tech type if you only weight one side, most these old wheels were fine w/bubble balance for years,, long as they are not bent. Brian

appreciate it, Brian...wheels are solid and straight, now just have to find a shop that still has a bubble balancer...wouldn't be doing this, but currently have white walls out with baby moons and trim rings and want to go to black with the full moons..thanks again, Steve

I've always questioned just how fancy Chevrolet would have gotten with something as mundane as truck wheels...... (it always comes back to the forefront whenever the discussion of pinstripes & body color wheels comes up) Keep in mind 50 - 60 years ago trucks were build for farmers. Period. Imagine what an assembly line area would have had to look like with 10 different (body) colors of wheel sets sitting there.

Curt, I have a '51 packet it only shows stripe placement & states the three stripes are to be same as the beltline stripe on the cab. It does not indicate that the stripes themselves are optional or only comes with rpo 390.

Believe me, I'd love to have the solid truth on this one as much as the next guy. I'm an originality freak (Hey, I'm a Vette guy, we wrote the book on factory correctness). Here's why I still question it all...... I have a 1951 3100. I am the second owner. It had 50,xxx miles on it and had basically been sitting a garage for as long as I've been on planet earth! The original owner died in the mid 60's. I've talked with the family, etc, etc,.....The wheels had a couple of layers of paint over the original, I stripped them off carefully.......NO PINSTRIPES.......It is a 3 window cab.

Just to add something to the discussion on chrome shortages during the Korean era. I have an original '51 ad. The fine print at the bottom states "Continuation of standard equipment and trim illustrated is dependent on availability of material". It shows a '51 3100 with corner windows, chrome grille, hubcaps & bumper, bright moulding around the door & windshield glass & yes, pinstripes on the rims!!!!!!!

Who the heck knows...........

The Shadow knows!

Too bad he's not a member of the 'Bolt.