1953-1954 World on Wheels (R714-24)
Topps Chewing Gum, Brooklyn, New York, USA

Series Title: World on Wheels
American Card Catalog No.: R714-24
Manufactured by: Topps Chewing Gum, Brooklyn, New York, USA
Packaged with: Wheels Bubble Gum
Number of Cards: 180-cards
Numbering: 1 to 180
Card Dimensions (measured): 3.73 × 2.65 inches
Card Format: Landscape format with square corners
Circa: 1953-1954

Overview ^[1]

This Topps 1954-55 series, commonly known as “World on Wheels,” rather than the simple “Wheels” which appears on the wrappers, because of the “World on Wheels” feature printed on the back of most cards (on some cards it says “See the World on Wheels”). The highly-detailed artwork pictures depict many different types of automobiles, and the up-to-date models of 1955. The make, model, and year of the car are stated on the front. The back of the card includes the card number, card title, a descriptive text of the subject vehicle, and a boxed “World on Wheels” historical drawing an short anecdote are found on the back. ^[1]

There are two mysteries associated with this set, The first of which involves the date of issue. The first two 1¢ wrappers clearly indicate the scope of the set to be 1896-1954 and later from 1896-1955, and the 5¢ wrapper also highlights vehicles from 1896-1954. Yet an insert from a 5-cent box which gives a contest expiration date of December 20, 1953. Given the way new car models are introduced in the fall of the preceding year, it’s most likely that the “Wheels” set was introduced in late 1953 (there are certainly enough 1954 autos featured in the set!). On the other hand, we have the run of 1955 models which appear at the very end of the series, evidence that “Wheels” set was also around in the fall of 1954. To make matters worse, The Card Collectors Bulletin of August 1956 states that “Topps added 20 cards to “Wheels” in 1956.” Surely, this last reference is mistaken and the writer meant to say “1955.” ^[1]

The second “Mystery” — the case of the different color backs — has a definite but as yet unexplained association with the first. It now appears that “Wheels” was originally a set of 160 cards, and that 20 more cards were added later on. These 20 cards are as difficult to find as the first of 160 are easy to find. To confuse the situation, cards 161-170 are found with red backs and cards 171-180 with both red and blue backs.

The American Card Catalog reference number for the set is R714-24. The measured card dimensions are 3.73 × 2.65 inches.

Wrappers and Retail Store Display Boxes

The Topps R714-24 “World on Wheels” has the following 1954 1¢ wrapper, 5¢, the rare 1955 1¢ wrapper, the 1¢ and 5¢ retail boxes, and two of the 20 December 1953 contest inserts. Note: A special thanks to Lonnie Cummins foe providing us a scan of his rare 1955 wrapper.

Image-Guide ^2,3

Checklist

References

1. Christopher, Benjamin. The Sport Americana^® Price Guide to the Non-Sports Cards 1930-1960, Number 2, Edgewater Book Company, Cleveland, Ohio, USA, 1993, ISBN 0-937424-66-8, pp. 428-430.
2. Albert B. (Al) Kramer: R714-24 high-resolution card scans from the Kramer Airplane Card Collection.
3. John A. Shupek: Card images via the Skytamer Archive Digital Image Database.
4. Lonnie Cummins: Wheels Wrapper Update, email: 4/26/2018.

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