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Hi Dick, The book "The Little ACs" on this site agrees with you. It seems to be well researched. It used to be available in the articles section of this site but the links to it now seem to be bad. I had found it anyway a while back (forgot how now) and copied it to my hard disc. Here's the appropriate wording from it relative to the rear rims: "Colors for rear wheels varied over the years with the early models using black rims and orange for the wheels. The C and B were produced with orange rims for much of the 40s. With the advent of the WD, AC began to use Silver for the B and CA rear rims. This occurred at the start of the 50s. Based on our research, the C was never produced with silver rims. The original color of the CA eccentrics was orange. Lug bolt/nuts followed the color of the hub which was orange. In early attempts to paint the silver on the later machines rims, I found that standard silver had a tendency to become too powdery after drying. As one drove into a rut or furrow, this paint would simply brush off. I overcame this by using a more expensive high-temp silver designed for engine use. Front rim colors were orange throughout the line with the exception of the early 2 piece rims. These used a black rim. Though most restored machines have silver on the outer portions of the rim, we have never found a non-restored rim or any documentation that would suggest that this practice was followed prior to the D-series."  Rod
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