While wasting more time on eBay, I found this. Looks like a nice well built, laced by hand, rear wheel for only $55 and shipping from NYC.

I think these will do well for my winter beater. I have a very old English 3 speed that I bought as a converted fixed gear with these very archaic wheels on it. The wheels are sized 26 x 1 3/8" S-6, making the process of finding replacement tires nigh impossible. The tires are past bald -- they are starting to servely crack. Not to mention that the rims are steel so stopping in the rain using my front brake is a complete joke. "claappp ... clappppp .... claapppp. thuck. pshhhhhhhhhhh."

I am going to buy a set of these cheap wheels and report back how well they work. It looks like a good deal from what I see here for those of you like me who want to get by as cheap as possible