Custom Hubcaps

A stock 1937 Cadillac V16 Series 90 Fleetwood 2 Passenger Coupe. This might be the father of the one bar flipper hubcap.Copyright Richard Owen. From Supercars.net.

This Ford Model T Roadster on 32 rails belonged to Jim Woods of Burbank, California. Woods ran the car at the lakes quite a bit before the war. It looks great with 1933 Chevrolet headlights and flipper hubcaps, and Nobey told us that the guys all around Burbank, Pasadena, and Glendale ran flipper hubcaps with ripples on their hot rods before the war. "You don't see them much in photos, because pre-war photos are so rare. Dad said they used to go alongside rival clubs' cars, going down the street, bang into them, and try to flip their hub caps off. Kind of like Gladiators of Rome, with their Chariots. This was a game they played on the streets, that was pretty common." Photo from The Richard "Nobey" Noble Photo Collection.

Dick Noble's 1932 Ford Roadster of Burbank, California. Dick bought the car as a coupe in 1938. He wanted a roadster and ended up trading the coupe body for a roadster body. A padded top with side curtains was added in 1941 along with a shiny black paint job and ripple with flippers hubcaps. Dick was a meticulous builder, and the roadster ended up as one of Burbank's finest. Photo from The Richard "Nobey" Noble Photo Collection.

Glen Wall's 1935 Ford Phaeton of Huntington Park, California. Glen bought the car in the late 1930s, and he restyled it mildly, dressing it up with fenderskirts, flipper hubcaps and Appletons.

Joe Stone's 1938 Ford Convertible Sedan of Downey, California. The car was mildly restyled sometime between 1938 and 1941, and it was dressed up with fenderskirts and Flipper hubcaps.

Leroy Semas' 1937 Chevrolet Coupe. Leroy was a member of the Thunderbolts car club. His coupe was restyled by Harry Westergard, and photos from 1949 shows it running Cadillac Sombrero hubcaps.

The history of custom hubcaps, from mere functional pieces to coveted style icons, is a fascinating slice of automotive history. As Albert Drake noted in his book Street Was Fun in '51, car enthusiasts of the 1930s and 1940s yearned to embellish their rides with something more striking than the "small, uninteresting hubcaps" that came standard. They found their answer in the Hollywood Hubcap, "a large inverted bowl with an S shape in relief," a design that seemed to dance with the movement of the wheels, creating an "illusion of motion." Yet, the pinnacle of custom hubcaps was the "late-model Cadillac hubcap," lauded for its "heavy and well-made" construction and lustrous chrome. These were not mere ornaments but badges of pride, so much so that securing them overnight became a concern with the onset of "hubcapping." These evolutions, as Drake elegantly puts it, made "a dull, family car seem extraordinary," proving that sometimes, the smallest changes make the most significant impact.

Flipper Hubcaps

1937 Cadillac V16's came with single bar flipper hubcaps, and it is believed that the accessory flipper hubcap that was very popular in the 1940s originates from this Cadillac.

Cadillac Sombrero Hubcaps

1948-1952 Cadillac hubcaps were nicknamed "Sombreros" because they had a definite hat that resembled a Sombrero. This style of cap became so popular in the early 1950s that inexpensive accessory knock-offs with modified Cadillac crests were produced and marketed under names like Calnevar Deluxe Full Wheel Covers and Hollywood Wheel Discs. In later years, the Sombrero label has incorrectly been attached to later Cadillac hubcaps in magazine articles.