Dragon Wire Wheels

[Logan]

My '53 Dragon came with the standard steel wheels.  Right now the car is a "driver," but in the future I plan to do a full restoration of it, and I would like to put the wire wheels on it that some Dragons came with.  Any info on where I might find these?

[joefrazer]

There are two versions of wire wheel that were used in the 50s by several different car manufacturers. Motor Wheel made most of the wheels for Mopar, KF and the other independents while Kelsey Hayes made them for Ford and I think GM.
KF wire wheels used a spoke pattern that brought the spoke mount out to the outer edge of the rim. Mopar used a pattern that put the spoke on the inner edge. If you do a search on ebay for chrysler wire wheels, there are a couple of vendors that sell the Mopar version.
The KF type is not available today in the aftermarket but used sets do show up from time to time. It's been strongly recommended that older wheels be respoked and balanced as age is generally not kind to them. Last I checked, it was about $350 to have a wheel respoked and trued up.
Most folks today opt for the Mopar version and only those in the know will recognize the difference.

[Gordie]

Didn't K-F use the Dodge-Plymouth wire wheels with smooth center hubcaps?  I have one factory photo of a 1954 Kaiser with the wire wheels and it shows the smooth caps.

[joefrazer]

KF used a modified HJ small cap as the center cover on the wire wheels.

[kaiserfrazerlibrary]

If you check out the Forum topic on K-F accessories, sooner or later there should be a broadside on the Kaiser-Frazer dealer accessory wire wheel covers, so you can get a picture of what they looked like.  Kelsey-Hayes made these for K-F and others in the 1950's when wire wheels were popular.  If you have a copy of the broadside handy in judging, any judge who takes off points for the CORRECT type wire covers should be removed from the field and only allowed to set foot as a spectator in future, at least that is my personal opinion.

[Gordie]

The wire wheel hubcaps do not look much like the wire wheels.  Does anyone have info on the introduction of the wire wheels?  Many of the Darrin press photos show wire wheel covers of at least two styles, one with a Darrin center cap and and another with simulated knock offs similar to the K-F accessory wheel covers introduced in 1953.  There does not seem to be much info. on the real wire wheels.

[kaiserfrazerlibrary]

Early in 1953, Kaiser-Frazer released a confidential bulletin indicating availability of factory-installed wire wheels.  A set of 5 could be ordered as an option on ANY 1953 Kaiser model (including a Kaiser Carolina).  The copy that I have is #90, dated 2/6/53, and lists a dealer cost of $205.20 and retail of $270.00 with $20.25 Federal Tax.   There should also be a second bulletin with identical text and a slightly different Bulletin #...that one will be addressed to "All Direct Dealers".  K-F had two sets of Confidential Bulletins..."All Dealers" went to those who ordered from a distributor;  the other went to dealers who did not have a distributor & ordered directly from the regional or divisional factory sales office.

[Logan]

It would be cool to find a Carolina fitted with wire wheels!  That is interesting; I thought they were only available for the Dragon.

[Gordie]

The Carolina was a no frills model made to offer a lower price for the slow selling Kaisers.  Most probably had few accessories although some factory photos showed accessory white wall tires and deluxe wheel covers to give the car a little more fancy look.  Your chance of finding a Carolina with real wire wheels would be slim but as Jack pointed out they were available for the car the same as all of the other accessories if you wanted them.