1940 1/2 ton rim colour question

[fireguyfire]

My 1940 dodge 1/2 ton had the original dog dish hubcaps under the seat, but the old fella I bought the truck off of had swapped out the rims and tires years ago so that it was a roller. I am currently tracking down a correct set of rims with the tines on them for the dog dish hubcaps, but I remembered that the old owner stated he may have one or 2 of the original rims that came on the truck when he bought it 40 years ago laying in the corner of his Quonset. I stopped by today, and sure enough he still had 1 of the rims tucked away, but what was very interesting to me was that it is red. He said that all 4 rims were red on the truck when he purchased it (the truck is royal blue). Looking at the rim, there doesn’t appear to be any other paint underneath the red, which is surprising to me.

I was under the assumption that all rims for these trucks came out of the factory black? Or were there other colours of rims available on these trucks?

I was assuming I would go black on the rims once I track down a set, but I am now intrigued by this red rim which would look pretty stunning on the dark blue truck.

Can anyone enlighten me on what the factory rim colour options were on this era of 1/2 ton truck?

[Jim G]

According to my late father, (who was a garage mechanic starting in the mid 1930s) all Dodge and Fargo wheels were red. This little bit of information came about when I was deciding what colour to paint the wheels on my Fargo.  Dad said "Red, the number of them I beat the tires off and they were all red. I hated coming into work in the morning and seeing that red, not the best start of the day knowing that was my first job of the day." 

 

Now please remember this is all anecdotal and I have no documentation other than every tire I've taken off has had remnants of red paint inside.

[Jim G]

19 hours ago, fireguyfire said:

 

I was assuming I would go black on the rims once I track down a set, but I am now intrigued by this red rim which would look pretty stunning on the dark blue truck.

I think it does . . . (not the best picture they have faded a bit in the last 20 years . . .)

19 hours ago, fireguyfire said:

 

 

[fireguyfire]

Thanks for the intel Jim; my truck is a Canadian made dodge by the way.

That would be the exact colour combo on my 1/2 ton other than my rims are the plain steel rims with the dog dish hubcaps.

[fireguyfire]

I’ve been continuing to dig and decide which colour I will paint my factory 1/2 ton rims; I tracked down an original set of 16” with the dog dish clips.

Looking at photos it seems that a lot of these trucks had the rims painted the same colour as the body as well. Was that a common way that these rims were painted? I had always assumed they were all black as black paint was cheap, but I’m slowly discovering that there were a few different rim paint options?

[Jerry Roberts]

From Dodge Pickups by Don Bunn  ;  " The wheels were cab color "