For Sale 1953 Buick Skylark Kelsey Hayes Wire Wheels

I have for sale a set of original Kelsey Hayes wire wheels from a 1953 Buick Skylark Convertible. The entire set of 5 rims has been stored in gm wheel boxes between my grandparents garage since the late 50's. They were removed from a family members Skylark and stored ever since. I removed them from our garage and took pictures of them to show their condition. They have the original Kelsey Hayes Stamping and the original chrome. They have never been restored, just stored. Sometime over the last 60 years the knock offs went missing. I believe my uncle has them in storage, but he has been unable to find them. The wheels are in great shape for their age. The chrome is tarnished and appears to show its age. You can see from the pictures the condition of the rims. I will only sell them to a collector and expect no low-ball offers. I know that sets of these have been reproduced by Coker Tire at one point, but I no longer see them. These are factory originals that have been stored for decades. They will need work to look new again, but I like the fact that they have original chrome on them still. Please feel free to email me about them with fair offers if you are looking to complete a project. I have attached several pictures of the wheels. jk1500@hotmail.com

Make note that if all your wheels are stamped 15 x 6  L  that they are the incorrect size for a 1953 Skylark. The  15 x 6 1/2 L  is the correct size and the one preferred for safety reasons with the larger 8:00 x 15" bias ply tire.

Al Mack

"500 Miles West of Flint"

Thanks for the ad. I sent a private message to your email.

Doug Cook

PM sent, next in line? Thanks,

Tom

After talking to my oldest uncle he told me the car could have been a 54 skylark. All of the brothers agree it was either a 53 or 54 skylark convertible in red. There is no doubt of what the rims fit. My research shows that both 6 inch and 6.5 inch were available on those vehicles.

Another item worth noting...

The 1954 Skylark was built on the shorter and lighter 1954 SPECIAL & CENTURY chassis, whereas the 1953 Skylark was built on the larger and heavier 1953 SUPER & ROADMASTER chassis. The shipping weight difference between the two Skylarks was advertised as 55 pounds less for a 1954 Skylark and the standard size tire for the 1954 Skylark was down-sized to a 7.60 x 15" bias-ply on a 15 x 6 L 40-spoke Kelsey-Hayes wire wheel.

More likely than not, your wire wheels are OEM 1954 Buick Kelsey-Hayes wheels.

Al Mack

"500 Miles West of Flint"

Are the wheels still available and do you know what you want for them?

I second the motion- an NOS set, not molested- quite a find.

What do you want for them? Also, I bet they have 54 stamped in them

I still have this set of wheels for sale.  I will take 3k for them as they stand.  I may have truespoke restore them, but I am also thinking about respoking them with polished spokes and nipples while keeping their original patina.  I contacted Coker tires, and they have not made a set of reproductions in 2 years, and couldn't give me a production date.  I can get the spinners for a reasonable price at least.  My email is still valid if you want to contact me.

I would give you $3k for them if they were NOS

Not high jacking this but seems a lot of people looking.  I just cleaned my set of original unrestored 54 wheels.  Beautiful survivors.  Asking less but Best Offer very soon.  Spent the time cleaning them so I want them gone while they are out.  Used originals not NOS.  I have the original spinners and mounting plates for them.  Only thing missing is a Buick and wheel bolts!

SOLD!

John Lyman 

412.463.9167

stinkinlincolnparts@gmail.com

What width.? Price and location please?

11 hours ago, BuickKid said:

. . . I just cleaned my set of original unrestored 54 wheels. . .Beautiful survivors. . . Used originals not NOS. . .I have the original spinners and mounting plates for them. . .Only thing missing is a Buick and wheel bolts. . . 

FWIW

1.  The wheels appear to me (I might be wrong) that they were re-plated at one time by a chrome plating shop that didn't have the proper equipment to plate the deep inner recesses of the hubs, or the hubs were media blasted. A picture of what the width of the wheels look like might confirm my assumption;

2.  All four painted emblems are painted incorrectly;

3.  Not all emblems are installed correctly; and

4.  A set of original Kelsey-Hayes wire wheels consist of five wheels, five hubcaps, and five plated and painted emblems.

Al Malachowski

BCA #8965

"500 Miles West of Flint"

23 hours ago, 1953mack said:

 

FWIW

1.  The wheels appear to me (I might be wrong) that they were re-plated at one time by a chrome plating shop that didn't have the proper equipment to plate the deep inner recesses of the hubs, or the hubs were media blasted. A picture of what the width of the wheels look like might confirm my assumption;

2.  All four painted emblems are painted incorrectly;

3.  Not all emblems are installed correctly; and

4.  A set of original Kelsey-Hayes wire wheels consist of five wheels, five hubcaps, and five plated and painted emblems.

 

Al Malachowski

BCA #8965

"500 Miles West of Flint"

 

 

I believe the lack of plating in the hub area is indication of originality.  All of the originals I have seen rust here first as this area was poorly plated when new.  Ones that are redone normally have better coverage.

Also, caps may have been repainted, but what's incorrect about it?  The color shade?

Do you know for sure that when cars came with these new the spare was also a wire wheel?  I don't think that's true.  

Also, these center emblenms are stainless and not plated.  The only ones with any plating were the ones from Skylarks that were stamped "Skylark" in the middle, which had a gold-toned plating in the middle and between the red, white, and blue paint.

On March 23, 2017 at 6:56 PM, lancemb said:

Also, caps may have been repainted, but what's incorrect about it?  The color shade?

The red, white and blue should be in clockwise orientation. These appear to be reversed i.e. blue, white and red?  

and like Al, I may be wrong... I was once ... But we won't get into that?

1 hour ago, MrEarl said:

 

The red, white and blue should be in clockwise orientation. These appear to be reversed i.e. blue, white and red?  

and like Al, I may be wrong... I was once ... But we won't get into that?

Yes that's correct...I have an original with some of the paint still on it and confirmed.  Also, the blue should be a bit darker.

On ‎3‎/‎23‎/‎2017 at 5:56 PM, lancemb said:

I believe the lack of plating in the hub area is indication of originality.  All of the originals I have seen rust here first as this area was poorly plated when new.  Ones that are redone normally have better coverage.

 

Also, caps may have been repainted, but what's incorrect about it?  The color shade?

 

Do you know for sure that when cars came with these new the spare was also a wire wheel?  I don't think that's true.  

 

Also, these center emblenms are stainless and not plated.  The only ones with any plating were the ones from Skylarks that were stamped "Skylark" in the middle, which had a gold-toned plating in the middle and between the red, white, and blue paint.

PM will be sent requesting where you are getting your information from...and agreeing with Post #15 above. Stay tuned folks.

Al Malachowski

BCA #8965

"500 Miles West of Flint"

11 hours ago, 1953mack said:

PM will be sent requesting where you are getting your information from...and agreeing with Post #15 above. Stay tuned folks.

 

Al Malachowski

BCA #8965

"500 Miles West of Flint"

PM not necessary anymore...

I have owned about 7 sets of these over the years, with most having been in varying grades of driver condition.  A couple were sets my dad had stored for decades.  Even the nicest ones I've had, which were not far in condition from the ones pictured, have had rust in the hub area with visibly poor chrome coverage.  I sold the first few sets deciding I'd never use them, then sold my last set of 6.5's because I decided I wanted the 6's instead.

I have seen several sets redone and they are chromed quite well in the center.  In fact, I have a few and am getting another back in several weeks or so.  That's not to say a shoddy chrome job is not possible, but the originals did not have superior plating.

I currently own a pair of near-nos condition spinners that still have some of the original paint, at least 2 of 3 colors but not sure if any blue remains.  I recall the shade being slightly darker than pictured above, but don't think I have a good example anymore.  I used to have some with original blue but sold them some years back. One set had the stamped Skylark spinners with gold in the middle, that sure as heck appeared original to me; it wasn't paint.  It was quite faded, however.  Others I've seen were not gold in middle, so I'm not sure if it was just worn off, or if they weren't all this way.  All that I've owned have had stainless center caps, with no evidence of chrome plating.

I can't speak for the Skylarks (I imagine they had 5) , but every optional set I've seen on other models like shown above has had a traditional spare, but I'm sure you could have bought a 5th (I'm certainly putting a 5th in my trunk!).  My dad used to have a very low mileage 56 that had them since new and it had a full steel spare.  

So, my information is coming from just seeing and owning a bunch of these over the years.  It's not coming from literature.  Anecdotal evidence is not perfect, but literature isn't always accurate either.  Also, I've seen on many, many occasions where things were not done consistently year over year or even within a model year on old Buicks, so it makes it very challenging to determine what's "correct" sometimes.

Selling original restored set of 4 wheels. Please advise on price? 15x6. Also have 10+ spinners from my dad's collection and would like to know a reasonable sale price. Listed on eBay for months with no buyers. Better place to sell? Thanks for your help. Erin 

Erin,

Those look like a nice set of wheels.  eBay reaches almost everybody so if you have not sold them there then it is guaranteed that the price you are asking is too high.  I can't tell you what it is but probably less than the restoration costs which is unfortunately the way things go.

6 hours ago, Ell said:

Selling original restored set of 4 wheels. Please advise on price? 15x6. Also have 10+ spinners from my dad's collection and would like to know a reasonable sale price. Listed on eBay for months with no buyers. Better place to sell? Thanks for your help. Erin 

 

 

Erin, those do look very nice.  As a longtime Ebay seller, and one who has owned many sets of these, here's how I'd price them.

Crusty used ones (cores for restoration) come up fairly regularly and sell for around  $100 each.  They can be restored by a reputable place for $590 each, not including spinners.  So that's a top end of $690 each without spinners, IMO (and reproduction ones are available for about the same price for what that's worth).  Then, factor in that the buyer doesn't know anything about where, when, and how they were restored with no warranty and a discount is in order.  Plus unless the timing is perfect and buyer needs them now, they have to plunk down a lot of cash now potentially sooner than they'd wish, so this is where you'd have to decide how soon you'd like to sell them vs. holding on to them trying to get a little more money.

Excellent reproductions of the spinners with caps are available for about $110 per wheel, so that would be an estimate for the value of those if perfect and would have to be discounted from there.  Some people, including myself, prefer original to reproduction even if reproduction is excellent, but it has to be a very nice original and I have found that most people place little to no value premium on this.

I hope this helps!

Excellent assessment Lance!

and add to what Lance said,were/are they trued?

On 5/3/2017 at 11:06 PM, Ell said:

Selling original restored set of 4 wheels. Please advise on price? 15x6. Also have 10+ spinners from my dad's collection and would like to know a reasonable sale price. Listed on eBay for months with no buyers. Better place to sell? Thanks for your help. Erin 

Plz email me I'm interested 

tbonikow@yahoo.com

Hello, the wheels and spinners have been sold. Thank you.