Painted Wire Wheels

Hi to all, Would it not be great if we could all agree on a standard way of
entering the "subject " field on our e mail postings. Have you ever tried
to search for something that you remember being discussed 6 months ago.
Anyway here's my questions which I know were been discussed before. -Is it
true that wire wheels were available in all body colors. -Were wheels
painted silver fitted cars of any color. -If the  wheels are painted red
were the drums always red, or were they black in some cases. Many Thanks -
Neville Laing

It is my belief that Jaguar dealers would paint the wire wheels to any body
color on a customer order. About 15 years ago I was fortunate to purchase 5
original  replacement  Jaguar wire wheels from a Jaguar parts dealer. He
purchased them from a large group that was left  behind many years earlier
by Jaguar Cars in a New York warehouse when the offices were moved to
Leonia, NJ. These wheels were all painted with a brown  primer and still
had the Jaguar parts labels attached.  It seems logical that the dealers
must have painted them to the customer's request. - Coinman1

Neville: In my experience, painted wire wheels most commonly match the car
color; wheels painted silver were available on request for any color car. I
commented earlier on this list that while the predominant brake drum color
was black, red was very common too. I have never discovered whether the red
finish was applied at the factory or at the dealership. Several people
responded that they had red drums; others indicated that their drums were
body color. I don't recall if there were specific color combination
exceptions. You probably have the lattitude to use any mix of the above
colors and have it recognized to be authentic by a well informed
critic/judge, if that is of concern to you. Good luck and stanby for other
opinions. - Dick Cavicke

Hi Dick Cavicke & all -- My '55 XK140MC OTS, owned in '65-'66, had
silver-painted wires with red drums; car was red/black int.  My '54 XK120SE
OTS, owned from '76 through '88, had lavender-painted wires with red drums;
car was lavender/red int.  My understanding (from Andrew Whyte in the old
days, for the 120, S674619) is that wires were available from the factory
from April '53 in three chrome variations -- chrome spokes, painted hubs,
chrome hubs, painted spokes, or all chrome, with prices from 60 to 90
pounds extra, or painted body colour (no extra charge).  Silver wires were
probably shot by dealers over the original body colour, particularly in US,
at customer request (probably to get the "look" of chrome without the extra
expense).  Re:  drums -- black from the factory; reshot by dealers to
customer request, so that's probably why we see black, red, body colour on
drums.  Who REALLY knows on this stuff?   I hope this personal experience
stuff helps -- Larry Martz

Neville: Can only comment on my car, a 1955 XK 140 FHC. Have owned this car
for over 20 years, and purchased it from who I think was the original
owner. Anyhow, I feel it is pretty close to original condition and the wire
wheels, and drums are red, same as the body color. - Gene Burda

If you have any questions or comments send e-mail to: ted@jag-lovers.org
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