[SD455DJ]

I have a couple of stupid questions...if you didn't order a wheel option or full wheel covers, were the steel wheels painted body color on '69 Firebirds? Were all available body colors used on the wheels, even special order colors?

Thanks! Dennis

[Jeff Hamlin]

If the buyer didn't want any wheel/hubcap upgrades then the "Standard" was black steelies with Lug Caps aka Poverty Caps/Dog Dish.

You could upgrade to painted rims but it was an option and cost a few dollars more.

Here is a '69 Chip Chart and it shows the factory "Suggested" wheel colors

[SD455DJ]

Thanks Jeff! So only 5 colors for the wheels at an additional cost? So, if you ordered Carousel Red with no wheel cover option/upgrade, they would come black? But you would pay a little to get body colored, or one of the five offered on the paint chip chart, or could you specify to match the body color? Sorry for the confusion!

Dennis

[Jeff Hamlin]

I think it's safe to say that if a buyer wanted it and was willing to pay then PMD would likely paint the wheels/rims the color of their choice.

The charts and brochures were laid out by designers and they are the ones who picked and choose the "Suggested" colors they felt best worked among all the exterior color offerings.

Since I'm sure the technique didn't change in '69, like in '66 they only painted the front/face of the rim so it wasn't a big deal/process.

Below are a few OE examples;

[thews]

Originally Posted by Jeff Hamlin

I think it's safe to say that if a buyer wanted it and was willing to pay then PMD would likely paint the wheels/rims the color of their choice.

The charts and brochures were laid out by designers and they are the ones who picked and choose the "Suggested" colors they felt best worked among all the exterior color offerings.

Since I'm sure the technique didn't change in '69, like in '66 they only painted the front/face of the rim so it wasn't a big deal/process.

Below are a few OE examples;

This is interesting insight. I would assume that buying the base wheel on a nice car was done with the intent of swapping them, so adding color wouldn't be a concern. The only cap that would show the color is the poverty cap, so I would assume the option to have the wheels painted was uber rare.

[north]

Any car built with dogdish hubcaps (without optional wheelcovers or that had them as standard equipment) and painted Warwick, crystal turquoise, limelight or antique gold would be built with body color matched wheels. There was no cost or option to this.

All cars painted any other color would have black wheels as would any car built with Deluxe, Custom or wire wheelcovers.

Interestingly the deluxe wheelcovers (except the Grand Prix version) did expose the outer half inch of the face of the wheel edge since this wheelcover was one inch smaller diameter than the wheel. The custom and wire wheelcovers were larger and fully covered the wheel face. This applied to both the 15” wheels versions on the big cars and the 14” versions used on the A and F bodies as well as the Grand Prix covers (except for the above mentioned deluxe cap being fullsized).