There’s nothing new about flashy big rims with custom paint; Disteel (Detroit Pressed Steel Company) was offering them starting in 1917, as a stronger and visually more alluring alternative to the wooden artillery wheels then used almost universally.
They quickly became a hot fashion item.
Eventually the wide-spread adoption of wire wheels upended that fad, until standard pressed steel wheels pushed wire wheels out. And now alloy wheels have all but eliminated steel wheels except for some low end versions. One wonders how long steel wheels will still be used on new cars, given the current trend.
“They make the car .. peculiarly the owner’s own” .. this advertising slogan is a beauty… where can I buy some!
I like “The wheel of steel”. I’m still a bit in the Dark Ages when it comes to wheels. Two of our cars have alloys, in 15” and 16” diameters, and both are 2015 or newer. And the third, the newest (2020) has 16” steel wheels. All are OEM. I suspect that as trends continue, our next car will not only have alloys, but probably 18 or 19”. I think 17” will be found on low end or very small cars only (maybe already?).
I’m old enough to remember when the 16” wheels on the ‘84 Corvette were a shift from the 15” wheels that had been the largest size seen on cars for the previous 30 or so years.
And while I wasn’t too surprised when 13” and 14” tires became more difficult to find, I’m starting to see the same situation with 15” tires. You may find them in the size you need, but your choices are much more limited than what’s available in 16”, 17”, and 18” sizes. It was particularly hard to find them for my Suzuki Samurai; I could find plenty of passenger car tires, but not many choices with a more aggressive tread.
I remember not being able to source street16″ tyres in the 70s not even in retread of course mudgrips were available but not in the size my 51 Humber 10 could wear they also cost double what I paid for the car I borrowed a set for WOF inspection in the end.
Everybody likes a pair of custom shoes and wheels are the perfect analogy. If correctly matched even a stripper model can leave a very positive impression. On the other hand we have the one and only Whistlindiesel and his antics that show us just how absurd things can get in the name of youtube hits.
This site hasn’t been updated in a while but I still like black steelies
http://blacksteelies.com/
My car uses 24 inch Disteel wheels. They were cut down to suit a smaller size tyre unfortunately. I am unable to find another set of 24 inch Disteel rims world wide! I’m finding it hard even to get what’s left of my cut down rims repaired. Looks like I will need to replace the type fitted to my car completely.