TheSamba.com :: View topic - Original BRMs: History, Stories, Pictures, Provenance, Survivors

Wed Mar 19, 2025 8:55 am

Original BRMs

I do love a good original BRM story!

This is a thread to share stories and pictures of the fabled BRM wheel
I’d like to hear of stories of how they were found, stories from back in the day, prices paid, near misses, ownership, gossip & rumours

Please post up pictures of any cars wearing original BRMs, along with the name of the car owner if possible. Which is your favourite car?

I also like to hear the background to your wheels…their provenance…who owned them before, that type of thing. If you have anything to share, please post it up

*ORIGINAL magnesium BRM wheels only, please gents*

Thank you to the guys whose pictures I have reposted, the AC VW magazines/journalists I have referenced that keep this all alive, and to the forums I have cross-linked.

Rim picture is from VW Classic, 2012
Caps are NOS
Hardware (studs, inserts, nuts) is original
Contents

Page 1
The Prototype BRMs
Inch Pincher
EMPI GTV Beetle
VolksWorld/Szantai BRM article (2025)
Speedwell-EMPI-BRM history
The Rubery Owen foundry
John Tilton’s BRMs
Everett Barnes’ BRMs
Page 2
RestoJohnny’s BRMs
Ron Johnson’s BRMs
Richard Roth’s BRMs
Steve Niendorf’s NOS BRMs for sale
Jim Taylor’s BRMs
Page 3
Jim Mayo’s BRMs
Dave Conklin’s BRMs
The Cooper 500 - a BRM Wheel Influence?
The British Racing Motors Connection
The EMPI GTV Hierarchy
Per-Inge Mattson’s BRMs

Wed Mar 19, 2025 10:31 am

Well.. This goes WAAAY back.. 30 years ago maybe? I live in Alabama and there was a small vw shop in my town(Cullman, Al.) That I do not remember the name of. Milton Little was the owner. He sold another local guy 2 real BRMs very cheap. I ended up doing 2 days clean up and moving vws around his back yard to get the 2 BRMs. I then kept them for maybe 8 years hoping to find 2 more. Didn't happen and all of my friends and I were dragging good finds in weekly back then. So I sold them on Ebay and bought other VW stuff.
Then, a few years later a guy gave me a nickel nick sales paper of some sort with an ad in it for a '63 bug for $300.00 but was listed as being in rough shape. I gave it to another friend of mine and he went and looked at it. He came back to me and said it was too rough for me, but I would probably want it because it had rough condition accessories in it. So, I drove out to see it and sure enough! 2 more real BRMs! BUT.. They were rotten on the bottom edges that were touching the ground. Car had an empi shifter and steering wheel in it too. So I bought it. The owner had 1 "Circus" wheel too, but would not sell it.
I ended up selling these on Ebay too, but if I remember right I listed them on Samba first. Thesamba did not exist yet when I had the first 2. I sure do wish now that I had kept these of course! I had my chance though!
Unfortunately, I do not have any pictures from these days. These 4 BRMs are the only ones that I have ever heard of being in Alabama from the late 1980's up through today though.

Wed Mar 19, 2025 11:06 am

Ah, that’s a great start Don. 2 days work for 2 original BRMs sounds like a deal!
The second pair…that’s a cool mate

Wed Mar 19, 2025 1:54 pm

I like and think the prototype brm wheels are a better looking wheel those wheel are also out there not many but they still exist ..I've seen a couple guys have them as spare wheel/ tire ...I know this is about real brm but I think they should make repops/ replicas/ knockoffs of those first brm prototype wheels...link below ..

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=1545875

Wed Mar 19, 2025 2:17 pm

Ok, so let’s talk the prototype BRM. It seems there only 4 prototype rims.

Latest VolksWorld says after being on a Green ‘66 Empi GTV used for promotional shots, they were painted orange & fitted to Inch Pincher for the 1966 Winternationals drag race held in Pomona, CA

^such a cool picture

They didn’t stay on Inch Pincher for very long. It received a production (black) set, which I understand are lighter. A good Inch Pincher thread here:
http://cal-look.no/lounge/index.php/topic,6058.0.html

I remember a prototype rim coming up for sale, maybe 12-14 years ago (update: 2008), and there was scepticism/debate over what exactly it was. It went for ‘Offers’.

So where are they all now?
Richard Roth (Ohio) owns one - probably this one?
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=1545875
Chris Morley has 2?
And the fourth was in NC with Jake…now Steve?
http://cal-look.no/lounge/index.php/topic,24748.msg320504.html#msg320504
Strange how the set got split up.

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=788564

Wed Mar 19, 2025 4:09 pm

Empi’s 1st Volkswagen Annual, 1966 with the Green Empi GTV Beetle and it’s naked-finish prototype BRMs, before they were painted & installed on Inch Pincher

Anyone have higher resolution images? I’d like to see what it says about the new BRM.

Thu Mar 20, 2025 12:07 pm

With it approaching 60 years since they were introduced (late 1965/early 1966), Stephan Szantai has written a top article about original BRMs (VolksWorld April/May 2025 issue). Please post up any other Original BRM magazine articles.

I love it when VolksWorld gets back on track like this

Aren’t we lucky BRMs came in before the (awful) 4-stud revolution…

Thu Mar 20, 2025 1:51 pm

Speedwell-Empi

Quote: Without doubt, the best-known joint venture between EMPI and Speedwell was the BRM wheel. Cast by the Rubery Owen organisation from almost pure magnesium, they were claimed to be some 40% lighter than the original steel wheel, stronger and wider, with a rim width of 5ins.
Here is a good article by Keith Seume charting the history of Speedwell - & on into their joint venture with Empi
https://www.oldspeed.net/speedwell_1965.htm
I’m not sure which VolksWorld issue this appeared in. Will need to track it down.
And I wonder who was chief designer designer of the wheel?

Like the computer, invented and made in the UK :wink:

Thu Mar 20, 2025 2:02 pm

Rubery Owen & Co

The BRM wheel was made by the Rubery Owen factory in Darlaston (near Walsall & Wolverhampton) in the West Midlands, UK
The West Midlands is/was a real hub of automotive manufacturing in the UK.
The address was Booth Street, Darlaston, South Staffs.
Looks like the factory buildings were demolished in the early 90s.

For the nerds, here’s a good history of Rubery Owen.
See “4. The Later Years” link, lower on the page, which covers the 60s.
http://www.historywebsite.co.uk/articles/Darlaston/RO.htm

The Owen family has owned British Racing Motors (BRM) since around 1952.
https://www.britishracingmotors.co.uk/home/

Fri Mar 21, 2025 2:33 am

Here’s the boss Everett scoring a set of original BRMs at the WCC pre-OCTO gathering in June 2006. He must have been an early bird. Everett has since sold these

I’m wondering who had them, how early was it, did it take much deliberation, was it a real deal, did he have competition…and who did they go on to?

Sat Mar 22, 2025 2:01 am

John Tilton’s BRMs

Here’s one story I have.

It’s 2010, & I’m quick on a somewhat sketchy ad for 4 original BRMs out of Illinois. There were only one or two low quality blurry small phone pictures of the wheels - you couldn’t see any detail. They were up for Offers. I rang Fred, hurdling the time zones, & he was friendly. Fred inspected the wheels for me over the phone, and I could hear them clanking around. The impression was they were available for a fair price, but when you’re calling overseas for a car or parts, at a decent value, holding your nerve - and having that ultimate trust & confidence in sending the cash - is a big deal. And how do you set the price on maverick wheels you cannot see? I came off the phone to ponder the deal.

I think I asked for more pictures, and tried to get more of a feel for the price. Fred courteously let me know the next day that he had done a deal. Im guessing they probably went for around the $4000 (£2700) mark.

Turned out they were very good rims, and Fred is a gent. He had only just found them at a local swap meet. I should have bought them, shouldn’t I

John Tilton (TyeDyeBug) in Oregon now has them, lucky fella.
He’s had them painted

And now they sit on his ‘66 looker

Sat Mar 22, 2025 7:24 am

Awesome stories! Love this thread!

Sat Mar 22, 2025 7:46 am

Thanks Nick. Hope we attract a few more contributions!

Sat Mar 22, 2025 9:08 am

Cool thread!! I have owned 3 sets and a single. They all have a story behind them. One of my favorite is a friend and I were shopping the Pomona swap in the mid 90's. It was later in the morning shopping the VW section . Was walking up to Randy Ingersoll's space & there was a guy carrying a single wheel. Seeing a OG wheel was not an everyday thing. We got closer & Randy points at me and says " he will buy it" ok , maybe so.... I started looking at it. Never been polished, never had a tire on it. Had 2-67 stamped on the edge. I assume this is Feb. 67. I have seen numbers like this before. So it is NOS. Oxidized with shelf wear but it is what it is. I asked how much, he wanted $500. This was the going rate for an average single at the time. I offered $400 and he needed to tell the story behind it. He took it. It came from Hershey or Carlisle swap meet I don't remember which. He paid $40 for it.... I ended up not using it. I did'nt want to be the guy putting a NOS wheel into service. It ended up going to Paul Rui in Norway. It was one of the wheels he buried in the garden to oxidize them. He did pay what was the record for a single wheel at the time though. His choice... hope you get some more replies to this thread. Lots of stories out there.

Sat Mar 22, 2025 9:13 am

As of today, March 2025, there are only two BRM prototype known to exist. Richard Roth has one, Chris Morley owns the other one, which I restored, and placed it on display in the Schley Museum in Orange.

Sat Mar 22, 2025 3:46 pm

RockStock wrote: Here’s the boss Everett scoring a set of original BRMs at the WCC pre-OCTO gathering in June 2006. He must have been an early bird. Everett has since sold these

I’m wondering who had them, how early was it, did it take much deliberation, was it a real deal, did he have competition…and who did they go on to?

I can't remember what I paid but I think sold them for $5500 a short time later but then went down to $5000 on delivery because I had listed one of them had a repair and it turned out a 2nd one had a small repair too.

A guy on the site bought them but I don't know if he still has them or not as I'm not sure of his name or username or if he is even still alive as he was quite a bit older than me at the time.

They came from a guy in the CA desert who I believe had them for a very long time.
I went to his house to buy something else and he had them in his shed.
They were not dirt cheap or anything but less than I sold them for later.

Sun Mar 23, 2025 11:19 am

Oh guys, thank you for chiming in!

Bill, thank you for your story. I think I read you now have one real set (4 or 5?) and one set of the Flat 4 copies. Is the date stamp an ink stamp? Or does it make an impression? Crazy Paul R buried it (my friend says much did he pay :wink:)? Please pop back sometime soon & tell us another story

Dean, thank you for clarifying that. What work did the rim need? Do you have a picture of it in the museum?

Everett, that’s just the sort of detail I like! Love that you just stumbled upon them

Dean, I couldn’t spot the rim in Shin Watanabes excellent recent pictures of the Schley Museum

Sun Mar 23, 2025 11:25 am

RockStock wrote: Ok, so let’s talk the prototype BRM. It seems there only 4 prototype rims.

Latest VolksWorld says after being on a Green ‘66 Empi GTV used for promotional shots, they were painted orange & fitted to Inch Pincher for the 1966 Winternationals drag race held in Pomona, CA

^such a cool picture

They didn’t stay on Inch Pincher for very long. It received a production (black) set, which I understand are lighter. A good Inch Pincher thread here:
http://cal-look.no/lounge/index.php/topic,6058.0.html

I remember a prototype rim coming up for sale, maybe 12-14 years ago (update: 2008), and there was scepticism/debate over what exactly it was. It went for ‘Offers’.

So where are they all now?
Richard Roth (Ohio) owns one - probably this one?
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=1545875
Chris Morley has 2?
And the fourth was in NC with Jake…now Steve?
http://cal-look.no/lounge/index.php/topic,24748.msg320504.html#msg320504
Strange how the set got split up.

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=788564

I believe that was the wheel I had that I posted for offers at one time? It ended up selling to Richard Roth in ohio.

I bought the 4 wheels in the fall of 2014 out of Georgia. The guy i got them from had them in his attic for 25-30 years. He told me they had came off a 356 race car. Regret selling it at times but I was 22 trying to buy my first house.

Sun Mar 23, 2025 1:57 pm

Heres a discussion we had on the prototype brms on Cal-look lounge regarding his (jakes) brms good read

http://cal-look.no/lounge/index.php/topic,24752.0.html

Sun Mar 23, 2025 8:34 pm

Jake Martinez wrote: I believe that was the wheel I had that I posted for offers at one time? It ended up selling to Richard Roth in ohio.

I bought the 4 wheels in the fall of 2014 out of Georgia. The guy i got them from had them in his attic for 25-30 years. He told me they had came off a 356 race car. Regret selling it at times but I was 22 trying to buy my first house.
Thanks Jake. What a great find at that age! Top picture.
So we’re calling this Wheel 4…the last one I referred to…now Richard Roth’s in OH

restojohnny wrote: Heres a discussion we had on the prototype brms on Cal-look lounge regarding his (jakes) brms good read
http://cal-look.no/lounge/index.php/topic,24752.0.html
Quote: Yes that's definitely one of the 4 prototype wheels made..So now all 4 are found. Chris Morley has 2 of them here in California [Wheel 1 & Wheel 2], [Wheel 3] is in a very VERY private collection also here in California, and now yours [Wheel 4].

[Wheels 1, 2 & 3] will NEVER leave the owners display EVER but then again everything has a price right Wink

[Wheel 4] looks very solid to me. I'd roll'em all if I could get the other 2 from Chris!
Johnny, it’s your quote from this Cal Look Forum thread that has me thinking that all 4 Prototype rims survive…

Wheel 1: Chris Morley, CA (restored by Dean Kirsten - Schley Museum)
Wheel 2: Chris Morley, CA
Wheel 3: Johnny! CA
Wheel 4: Richard Roth, OH (ex 356 race car/Georgia/Jake Martinez)
Please can you clarify/confirm that?
Are there any pictures of Chris’ wheels?