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Thu Apr 12, 2012 10:05 pm

Scored these on the samba today and drove 4 hour's roundtrip. These are dated 06 56 and made by KPZ I have ALOT of pre a 16 wheels and these are much lighter. I had a pair of 05 55 dated wheel's that were as light as these but sold them to Jack Staggs and I know he got ALOT on ebay for them. I wish I didn't sell my pair to Jack cuz now I would own a full set of these light weight pre a wheels. My question's are:

1) were these available over the counter at porsche ?
2) is 56 the last year for these..these are my 1st set of pre a wheels
dated 56 and I have atleast 2 sets of each year from 51-55 so these
to me are rare just because of the difference in weight.
3) Were these made specifically for racing or did they come on the
the pre a's off the assembly line.
4) so are these really rare/uncommon ?

Any and all information is appreciate I just want to learn more about
these lightweight wheels

I just want to know more about these particular wheels as I know they are special in some way. **OH THE LAST PICTURE is of the pre a 55 dated light weight wheels and you can see the difference such as where the valve stem area is .. it is stepped on the 56 wheel but not on the 55 & earlier wheels. Also on the 55 wheel's the valve stem area itself is indented in and on the 56 wheel it is flush.

lightweight 55 dated wheels
These are lemmertz dated 53

Thu Apr 12, 2012 11:56 pm

Johnny I definitely did NOT sell them on ebay. In fact, I have never sold anything on ebay, ever. I purchased your 2 wheels to go with 3 that I already had to make up a full set for a client, who sold the car to Holland (or Denmark?) in the meantime. They were then sold at a swap meet for me by Joe. You probably know that there were 3 different manufacturers of 16" wheels. I also have noticed that there are differences at the valve stem areas, even among the same manufacturers, although I don't think I have ever seen ones with "hearts"! Are they riveted? I also have noted differences in the weight and strength of the wheels. The somewhat lighter ones seem to be often bent much more out of shape. 16" wheels were made in to the later '50s as spares parts for early cars and could be bought at the dealer. I hope you don't feel that I took advantage of you in any way. Don't feel bad, I threw away 16" rims back in the '70s when no tires were available for them, and just got tired of storing them!!! What an idiot! :shock:

PS. I haven't sold anything on thesamba either.

Fri Apr 13, 2012 7:05 am

Hi Jack, No worries as the EBAY thing was what was told to me I did not actually see the auction for those wheels and it doesn't matter to me what people do with what they buy from me.When I sell an item I don't look back. Beleive me in all honestly I NEVER feel taken advantage of when I sell something and you are a "STRAIGHT UP GUY" and I was glad to have met you and I am grateful for the information you've given me on these wheels. Yes I know lemmertz, KPZ & Sudra made the 16's. So porsche made spares into the late 50's so that's a lesson learned for me I thought they stopped in 55 :) Yes this is the first I've seen with "heart's" and yes they are riveted. Thanks again for the info buddy see ya at the show's :wink:

Sun May 06, 2012 6:06 pm

In the bottom picture what is the purpose of the small holes between the slots?

Sun May 06, 2012 6:33 pm

DDub wrote: In the bottom picture what is the purpose of the small holes between the slots?
Those are the three mounting holes for the optional "turbo trim rings", the aluminium directional louvered pieces that fit under the hub cap that cover the outer diameter of the wheel.