What's up with the silver paint vs original color on the rear wheels of otherwise nicely restored Ford tractors? Collectors, please weigh in.

[john in la]

I always thought the regular rims were all gray and the spin out rims were silver zinc plating.

 

[showcrop]

I always thought the regular rims were all gray and the spin out rims were silver zinc plating.

Two-Three years after I got my '57 960, I was sanding off the light gray that was put on it around 1975, and found the original water transfer decals under it. I had swapped to bigger tires/rims for pulling competition and the originals were in storage

 

[showcrop]

Two-Three years after I got my '57 960, I was sanding off the light gray that was put on it around 1975, and found the original water transfer decals under it. I had swapped to bigger tires/rims for pulling competition and the originals were in storage

I got the mounted tires out of storage two weeks ago. They had been in storage since around 2002. When I was power washing them some of the 1000 light gray flaked off the centers revealing the original light gray. This morning I very carefully worked with my pocket knife at enlarging a spot on the rim where some 1000 gray had flaked off revealing some pale yellow primer. When I got the 1000 gray removed from an adequate sized area, I started scraping at the primer. When I got enough cleared away I could tell from the uniformity, with no rust blemishing, that it was zinc plated steel. I then polished it a little with some 00 steel wool.