Here is some interesting wheel trivia. A mechanical engineer friend of mine at work has a 1967 Fairlane and he is an amazing source of of information on old Fords. He told me that prior to approximately 1966 the center spokes on wheels were riveted to the rim. After somewhere around 1966 they were welded.
I have 1963 Falcon with a 260 V-8 that has 13-inch wheels with five lugs (Six cylinder Falcons have 13-wheels with four lugs). I pulled the spare tire out of my trunk and saw that my friend was indeed correct. My wheels have three rivets securing each of the four spokes to the rim. I would have never noticed that if he had not mentioned it.
Here is the back side of my 1963 13-inch 5-lug 4-spoke wheel:
Spare tire and wheel 2-19-2016 002.jpg
Close up of rivets. The original inspector's "188" paint-pen mark is still visible:
Spare tire and wheel 2-19-2016 003.jpg
Falcon wheels probably changed to a welded design by 1966.
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