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Has anyone besides me noticed that it is very difficult to find 16 inch wheels with a 6 by 5.5 pattern? Just wanted plain steel wheels not "spoke" or custom. I figured they would be easy to get, wrong, and I could put the clips on my self. Or am I looking in all the wrong places? I can find 15 inch wheels but most are too wide and have too much back space. Just want a "stock" look with a real truck tire and a bit of circumference to help with road speed. Comfortable 60 mph would be my goal. Any thoughts? I will keep lurking the "for sale" posts but they go fast.

The 16" wheels really weren't as common after 1953. In 1954 they went to 15" wheels then. I know it took me a few years to come up with 4 16" original truck rims for my truck.

John

16" was the standard 1/2 ton truck wheel in 1954 and 1955-1st series Chevrolet trucks. 16" wheels were standard equipment in all Advance-Design years (47-55), and 15" wheels were optional in all Advance-Design years.

Wheel Vintiques has 16" wheels in narrow widths with the exact bolt pattern you're looking for.

OK so I went to Wheel Vintiques and found 3 styles that might work.
1. Artillery: 16" x 5" with a 3 1/4 back space. A bit spendy for me and not quite the look I had in mind.
2. Smoothie: 16" x 6 with a 4" back space. Close to what I wanted. Will it fit? 52 1/2 ton stock front and rear.
3. Chevy Rally 16" x 6 with a 4" back space. If the smoothie will fit this will as well. If one won't then the other won't.
And folks, that is about all I could find. Honestly, I did not look at the wider rims. Not what I want or need. I did find one or two at 17" with the correct lug spacing but they were pretty wide at 7" or better. Any thoughts? Thanks to all for helping.

Jumping on this thread - would like to hear opinions/see pics of the best 16" Vintiques or other wheels to choose with a 6-bolt disc brake upgrade on a 1950 3100. Want to have as stock a look as possible (including the ability to mount repop hubcaps) while running modern radials.

Also tire size recommendations - 215/75/16? Other?

I forgot to mention something that won't fit with your plan. Not only do new wheels like Wheel Vintiques not have the clips, the center is too small to even fit your old hub caps. Ask me how I know. If you want to use your old or old-style hubcaps with the wheel vintiques wheels, you'll have to send them to Wheelsmith and get them modified to fit their Smoothie wheels. There is no simple way to get the old or reproduction old-style hubcaps to fit the new wheels, other than getting them modified. Depending on the caps you want, Wheel Vintiques or another manufacturer may make the caps you want that fit their wheels.

I have changed my 47 coupe over to 5 lug, red painted rally wheels with the little police caps. Decided I still wanted the original cap, discovered WheelSmith can fit any vintage type cap to just about any rim. And they made these up and got them to me quickly. Best of luck.

http://www.thewheelsmith.net/CustomWheels/VintageWheelsAccessories.html

This is very relative to this post.. I just purchased the Brothers setup for disc brakes. I got the 6 lug aluminum hubs so its a more clean install. Problem is, I want the standard, everyday steel wheels that look original WITH the proper standoff for the disc brake calipers. Brothers sells the proper wheel but with 5 lugs, which is useless, so does anyone know of a 6 lug steel, standard wheel that is properly made for disc brakes and also allows for clips for the standard hubcaps? I would hate to have to tear apart the stock wheel, weld it back together with the proper offset. I am sure it wouldn't be safe anyway. Surely after all these years, there is a solution?

The problem with the original wheels isn't so much the offset/backspacing, but the drop center of the rim portion. The older wheels have a deeper drop center than the later wheels, making for smaller inside diameter. Usually, what actually hits is the tabs where the center web is attached to the rim in the drop center.
Took a look at the Wheelsmith site, looks like those would be the best bet for an original style wheel.

I put the Chrome 16" Wheel Vintiques Rally's on my panel truck. Love 'em!

Look at Dexstar Wheels, they still have them

http://www.dexstarwheel.com/products.pdf