What car brand is this hub cap from?

[Edwin64]

Hi there,

 

I am a collector of old hub caps, and I am curious if someone knows from which car brand this hub cap originates. It seems to be from the '50s, and my thought was maybe DeSoto, but I can not found any example. Can someone confirm or know more, what year?

Thank you.

Edwin

[The 55er]

It's a 1954 Desoto hubcap.

[Bloo]

I wonder if it could be one of those aftermarket replacements that is a close, but not exact copy to avoid trademark infringement. "Fool" hubcaps (Ford) and "Poo,ooo" hubcaps (Pontiac) among others did exist. My first thought was 51-53 Studebaker, close but no cigar. The pictures of 54 Desoto hubcaps that I can find are also very close, but not quite a match.

[drwatson]

Bloo is onto something, cap in question doesn't quite match cap in this photo which is 1 of 4 for '54 DeSoto caps on eBay.

[The 55er]

It's possible there were several different types of 1954 Desoto hubcaps. The Canadian Mopar parts books show a different hubcap part number than the US Mopar parts books and there were also 6 & 8 cylinder models. There was also an export model called a DeSoto Diplomat that looked a lot like a 1954 Plymouth and that could have had a different style hubcap. All the Ebay listings will probably look like the one pictured in drwatson's post above as that would certalnly be the most common type. As for 1954 aftermarket fake hubcaps, there were over 1.1 million Fords & Chevrolets produced and maybe there were reproductions made for those. However in 1954 DeSoto (production: 78,580) finished in 12th place in the sales race, below Cadillac and even Nash so I have doubts anyone made replacement hubcaps for a car with such comparatively low production numbers. Maybe if the OP could show a picture of the edge of the hubcap showing the gripping "teeth" it might help determine its origins. I've shown two shots of the edges of two random 1953 DeSoto caps (identical 1953 appearance but for some reason the teeth differ slightly on both) for comparison. I don't have any 1954 Desoto caps that I know of for comparison. Aftermarket caps always had a cheaper appearance and a different tooth style all their own, something like the edge of the smaller lower cap in my bottom picture. Hey, this is ALL CONJECTURE on my part but I still think the OP's hubcap that needs identified is for some kind of a 1954 DeSoto, or at least someone tried to make a hubcap that looked like one. Sorry to be so long winded!

[drwatson]

9 hours ago, The 55er said:

There was also an export model called a DeSoto Diplomat that looked a lot like a 1954 Plymouth and that could have had a different style hubcap.

Ah yes, here's the cap on a 1954 Export DeSoto Diplomat and I agree it's unlikely the OP cap is aftermarket.

[Edwin64]

Thank you very much for all the reactions. I am very pleased with that. 

A good idea to look at the edge to identify whether it is after market or not. The edge of my hub cap is similar to the ones shown in the picture of The 55er, so indeed no aftermarket. And thanks for your explanation. 

I think you have found the hub cap drwatson, and it is from a DeSoto Export Diplomat 1954. Mine is less shiny and the yellow colour is partly gone, but I think it is the same.

Thanks.
Edwin