Kelsey Wheel Company

View Comments

• My father worked at Kelsey Hayes for many years until it closing. My most fondest memories of KH was the annual Christmas party and family picnic on Boblo Island!

• Rustshield Plating, currently a closed Chromeshield bldg operated in the former Burrows bldg at 804 McDougall and chromeplated wheels for Kelsey Hayes. The wheels were plated for another Kelsey Hayes Plant in Chatham Ontaro.

  Hayes Wheel eventually purchased Motor Wheel and eventually all chrome plated steel wheels were replaced by chrome plated plastic skins that were glued to aluminum wheels.

  Wheel industry used to create a ton of jobs, I remember my dad saying, "remember mark, I built our business on wheels, for every 1 car there's 4 wheels, thats where the money is"

• We have six wheels manufactured for our 1974 Bronco by Kelsey Manufacturing. (KH-84994). Looking closely at them you will see a higher degree of quality than found on similar sized wheels. (Kelsey Hayes is reflected in the part number, but not on the manufacturing label for the company).

• I worked in that plant right out of high school in 1973 until I took a job in 1981 at the now closed Windsor Transmission plant. While at Kelsey, I worked in the shipping department, and at many other jobs too. My last years there saw me working as a millwright apprentice, and after four years, I became a journeyman.
  Now looking back, I know I made many friends at those two plants, but the workers at the Kelsey plant were more like family.

• Would like to gwt a catalog from you on wheels , we have an old 1989 catlog but I bet the prices are different by now. al

• My father was a vet from World War II and he worked at Kelsey Wheel from 1948 to 1986. He had a job at Ford's that paid $25.00 a week that he quit because Kelsey's was paying the workers $30.00 a week. That $5.00 difference was a weeks groceries back then. Kelsey Wheel changed their name to their American counterpart in Romulus Mich. to Kelsey Hayes in the 1970. N.A.F.T.A. sealed the fate of that factory along with many more by the end of 1980's. My dad had spent 38 yrs. at that plant and passed away at the age of 66 in 1987, not long enough to enjoy retirement.

• Another footnote to the history of Kelsey Wheel is that they were the first unionized plant in Windsor back in the late 1930's and Ford Motor Company became unionized in the 1940's. CBC did a movie on that movement back in the 1980's sometime.

• I have a 1952 canadian GMC 9600 truck with 7 kelsey wheels although badly rusted they were
  sandblated and repainted and still doing good service with new tyres fitted,these wheels are stamped with 50 and 51 I am only assuming this may be year of manufacture maybe someone
  can confirm this, its good to see that kelsey carries on as a lot manufacturing is slowing fading due our high dollar and cheap chinese imports

  Chris Londish Bannockburn Victoria Australia

• i have a picture of my grandfather at a Kelsey Wheels banquet on April 6 1951. the picture also has a ventriliquist in the picture. I'd like to know if anyone remembers this banquet

• Robert James Girard, I think you mean the Auto Pact, which was signed in 1965. NAFTA was enacted in 1994.