Wheel Types
Cars of the Durant family were fitted with one of three kinds of wheel: wood-spoke (artillery), wire, or steel disc. The wheel type is part of a complete description of a car, and it can help show whether a car is a standard or a De Luxe model. Check the fact sheet for your model to see which wheels it came with.
Types: Wood-spoke (artillery) · Wire · Disc
Wood-spoke (artillery) wheels
The most common wheel on Durant family cars: wooden spokes set into a metal hub, with a steel rim. The spokes were usually painted or varnished, sometimes with pinstriping. Many wood wheels carry a demountable rim, held on by the small clamps around the rim, so that a flat tire could be changed by swapping the rim rather than the whole wheel.
The 1929 Durant 40, for example, came with “wood artillery on standard models” (fact sheet). See examples of cars with these in the registry.
Wire wheels
Steel wire spokes laced between the hub and the rim. Wire wheels were lighter and more stylish, and were usually fitted to De Luxe models or offered as an option.
The 1929 Durant 40 De Luxe models, for example, had “six wire wheels with two spare wheels mounted in front fender wells” (fact sheet). See examples of cars with these in the registry.
Disc wheels
A pressed steel disc in place of spokes. The 1924 Star F fact sheet describes a model “equipped with a nickled radiator and disc wheels.” See examples of cars with these in the registry.
The photos on this page are modern pictures given an old-style finish. Click a photo to see it larger.