Wheel Center Caps

The Newton Reaction Carriage introduced hubcaps in 1680. [4] The term "dust cap" or "grease cap" was more widely used for the original hubcaps. The wood, steel, or wire wheel's central hub was threaded with these caps. These were produced from the start of the automobile industry until 1932. Hubcaps built before 1915 were almost exclusively nickel-plated brass. Hubcaps from the 1920s were usually made of aluminium. Some of the hardest to find grease caps are for wire wheel manufacturers including Houk, Hayes, Frayer, Dayton, Buffalo, House, Phelps, Pasco, Rudge Whitworth, Budd, and Stewart. The vehicle's manufacture would be branded in the middle of the wire wheels when a buyer went to purchase them. The first snap-on centre caps were produced in 1927 and 1928.