</font><font color="blue" class="small">( What is the reason for the "steel wheels"? You also see them on tractors. /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif )</font>
Although there are probably some practical mechanical reasons, some religious sects are banned from having/using certain things. The Amish have rules that are difficult for outsiders to understand, but are mostly based on keeping them "separate from the world". Different branches of the Amish faith even have different views. Although I have lived around them since birth, I'm no authority on them.
Some are not allowed to own or use tractors, but they can have a gas-powered implement pulled by horses. The more strict are not allowed to use zippers on their trousers, and must use buttons. Some of their women use straight pins to hold their clothing together (just saw a few at a wedding I recently attended - two of my in-laws have married into families that had Amish relatives).
Having wired telephones, electricity, rubber tires, vehicles, and a lot of other modern things is considered too "worldly". A bud was in an Amish-owned store, and told me he got a kick out of the setup. An older Amish gent there had battery-operated laptop, cell phone and a cash register. This must have been OK'd by his deacons because none were wired to the outside world.
We have other groups (of what may appear to be Amish to the tourists) who believe it's OK to have cars as long as they are all black, including the bumpers and trim. They dress similarly to the Amish, but don't adhere to the same rules.
I worked with a guy who was kicked out of the church for buying a pickup truck. One sister-in-law of mine has relatives who may not eat at the same table as their relatives who voluntarily left the church.
There is a period when little attention is given to the teenagers' activities. Owning and driving cars, beer parties at the quarry, etc. are overlooked as the teens sometimes get kinda wild for a while. Interesting bunch of people...............chim