I have been going on a tear trying to find 16 X 3 1/4 inch wheels for my 1955 restoration project, without much luck. Does anyone know if any manufacturer has reproduced these things to be period correct? I've been down this road regarding a gear shift lever, and voila, there is the guy in SOCAL that is doing it. Maybe the same on the wheels?

As far as I know there is no one doing repro sixteens. The originals have recently gone wild in price. I've seen sets go for 6K or better. I put together a set of five and it took me three years and four different people/deals. Probably one of the hardest parts to find for me.
The singles are out there, but you've got to cover some ground.

Hi there,

I am in the process of getting repro's made, but it isn't easy. I have scanned original wheels and had a CAD drawing made and I am now talking to wheel manufactorers. But they don't seem to be really interested in these small numbers and are asking ridiculous prices so far. I don'want to go to China, as I don't want to see any wheels come off at a 60 mph speed. Will keep you updated.

Thanks,

Mike

Slots on scan data look a little smaller than original part. Is this to take the material thickness into account on the tooling? If so you need to go the other way ( larger ).

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It's correct to 0.01 mm, just appears so in the image.

Thanks,

Mike

The slot shape is slightly different for the different wheel manufacturers. This is true on both 16 and 15 inch wheels.

Alan

I would have reasons other than QC issues in doing business with the Chinese. They do make a lot of crap. However, they can, and do, manufacture very high quality goods. My Chinese Type 56-1 AKM and Type 56 SKS variants are of very high quality. Many top tier companies have components made there, whether they want you to know is a different story. If you are willing to do the necessary work you can get very high quality goods made there. There are also companies in Taiwan which could make tooling and dies.

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How were these things originally made? I guess the centers were stamped on a press. In today's world, would they be milled from a solid piece of steel?

Amazingly, today I found of pair of correct wheels for my 55 Continental in a VW shop of all places.

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Please don't tell me you paid 50 bucks each for them.

In the WTF catagory, I sent the following message to Lemmerz Europe. The address that I found on the internet was blocked and the e-mail never got through. I do have two of their wheels that they manufactured for 356/911 disk brake Porsches dated 1991 (I believe that's the date, but I don't want to go out to the garage right now to check.)

Gentlemen

During the early years of Porsche 356 model cars, you manufactured a series of steel wheels of the size 16 X 3 1/2 inch. Do you still have the capability of having a run of these wheels? With the advent of many automobile restorers attempting to replicate their 1948 - 1955 cars to pristine condition, it is very difficult to find useable wheels from that era. I believe that a run of 356/911 wheels for 1964-1968 era disk brake cars was done by your company in the 1990's.

Are the original 16 inch dies still in existence? Thank you for your answers regarding such an obscure subject. I am fairly certain that Porsche AG restoration division would also be interested in your answer.

Sincerely

Jerry Garwick
Prather, California,

Mike, no matter where you go, the quality of your final product is in how you control the specifications of the product. If you just say "make it out of steel", then you will get exactly that, a product made from the cheapest steel available when in fact, you may want a high strength steel. Or if you say, weld the two pieces together, your wheel will come apart at 60 because you did not specify the weld process and the QA inspection afterwards. You see, with these very simplified statements, I hopefully have explained how poor quality creeps into the final product. You will get that even in Europe, not just China.

As for manufacturing method, unless you are an expert tool and die maker, your wheels will be machined, so you will not get an exact reproduction. The quantities do not justify tooling, which can run into the six figures.

Don't forget to have the wheels certified as road worthy.

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What about contacting the "brazilian" aftermarket wheel supplier to Porsche and VW cars? He'd have process/quality and material specifications already in place.

I have a vested interest in this, having a 54 coupe with the wrong wheels. No friggin way I'm buying old, tired wheels at 700 apiece to store on my shelves just to satisfy the authenticity police. Ask anyone whose driven a car with the 16" rims and "motorcycle" tires, they'll tell you that the setup is dangerous and unpleasant to drive relative to 15" r's.

Now, at a hundred or two a wheel, I'd buy a set just to complete the car- just my opinion.

Kevin Murray
54 Pre A
54 RR silver Wraith
57 BMW Isetta
35 Packard Sedan Conv
61 Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint Speciale (my new toy!)

My surprise find yesterday was a piece of dumb luck. I am in the midst of restoring an Iso Rivolta and was visiting an old time mechanic who claimed he had some used Campagnolo spinners. (BTW These items are rarer than Pre A wheels.) He mentioned the wheels and I pounced. My Continental (#53768)was made on 6/28/55 and the wheels; (6/55) and (2/55) are a very reasonable match. Unfortunately, the fellow did not have authentic Campy spinners.

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I am currently stopping at every junk yard in Central Colorado looking for the brass ring. Why do we do these things? Especially in the middle of winter?