Packard Forum Index » Pre-War (1899-1942)

Kev, not applicable to the current question. Similar to the ACE-style covers, those you've shown are intended to cover over the steel spokes on the standard spoke wheel, a cosmetic effect. The wheel in question is a true steel disc wheel (available thru 1936 on Senior cars, IIRC), here's a photo of a one on a 1933 Super Eight. These were quite often found on export cars as they were a much stronger wheel than the wooden artillery or steel wire spoke.

Just my opinion but they had a lot more eye-appeal when wheel sizes were larger, by the time the smaller 17" wheels arrived (as in the enclosed photo) they had kind of lost their glamour.

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  33 1004 disc wheel.JPG (43.92 KB)

Leyton Chan pointed me to Trade Letter T-2554 which on page 3 shows that chrome disc wheels were an option for $8.50 per wheel.

Excellent Kev, thanks and that would seem to definitively answer the question.

Quote:

I once asked Denise McCluggage why most racers drove sports cars with wire wheels vs solid steel wheels. Her answer was just the opposite. She said that the wire wheels were stronger.

Depending on the type of racing, one advantage that wire spoke wheels can offer is that they allow better cooling airflow around brake drums.

On second thought, I think she said it was because of their reduced unsprung weight, and that they were faster to to change (knock-off).