Original BRMs: History, Stories, Pictures, Provenance, Survivors

[Bill Schwimmer]

I think it would be the hardware supplied with the wheels. The VW version had the 14/12mm studs & inserts and lugs. The set I have now came off a 356 & there were no inserts. I think they used a straight shank lug nut.

[Tom_Kathleen]

It doesn't have to be different, it is for a Porsche so they can charge more. Its covered by the "Porsche Tax", everything for a Porsche costs more. LOL I hope someone can really answer your question. Tom
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Manxter #16, 1968 Meyers Manx & Kick-Out SS #16 (WIP)
Manx Club & CVA

[Bruce]

[restojohnny]

I think that was me that told you that
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$$$ HUSTL'N AIN'T EAZEE $$$
** HELL YEAH I'LL SELL IT TO YOU**
O.G. POMONA VULTURE
MAGNESIUM BRM HOARDING BASTARD !!!!
$$ SWAPMEET MAFIA $$
48 split $$$$
53 LHD, LH cargo door standard kombi
54 Pre-A Porsche
55 oval ribbed door non-semiphore
56 semiphore ragtop
63 notchback (work in progress)
67 original Empi GTV beetle convertible !!
67 deluxe walkthru (work in progress)
67 convertible ghia (work in progress)

"STAY OUTTA MY BACKYARD !!! "

[c-rad]

Ok I’ve been out of the VW street scene for 30 years as I’m a hardcore Glamis guy these days, but, I still want a set of OG BRMS! Around 1990 at Pomona Swap Meet in the VW section, a fella had 4 BRMs and a set of EMPI Raders. It was the first time I had ever seen a set of BRMs for sale, he wanted $1200 for the set. He then told me the Raders were even more rare than the BRMs and he wanted $1800 for those. I was a teenager and it was a lot of money back then so I passed. After that, I read somewhere that Chris Morley had a pair of the prototype BRMs. He was selling parts at the VW Classic? at Irvine Meadows, I walked up to his stash and there they were! I asked “where in the hell did you find those?” and if I recall correctly he said they were on a glass buggy back east. I just had to fondle them to at least say I held one! Otherwise, I’m blown away at the current value of the wheels. One day I’ll get a set and build a car around them

[RockStock]

From p2, 2 months ago

[RockStock]

Nice, Jim!

Can you tell us anything about them?
Where did you find them?
What were the red ones on?
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-StockRocks-

[Jim M]

Some of my wheels in the 1990's

[RockStock]

Per-Inge Mattson’s BRMs

I got the lowdown on Swede Per-Inge’s introduction to original BRMs for you boys!

[RockStock]

The EMPI GTV Hierarchy

EMPI brochure 1967
https://www.oldspeed.net/empi-catalog/images/catalog67.php

Mk1 (Sprintstars)

Mk2 (Sprintstars)

Mk3 (EMPI 5s)

Mk4 (BRMs)

I don’t see BRMs listed in the 1968 EMPI catalogue
https://www.oldspeed.net/empi-catalog/images/catalog68.php

Or the 1970 EMPI catalogue
https://www.oldspeed.net/empi-catalog/images/catalog70.php

Yet the 5-stud Sprintstar and the EMPI 5s still featured. Dropped very early on?

Are there any original Mk4 GTVs out there (still wearing their BRMs)?
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-StockRocks-

[RockStock]

Thanks Bill
Just a theory, but it hit me how similar the wheels were

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The British Racing Motors Connection

Another grey area for me is why/how the wheels are called BRMs
What was the connection with British Racing Motors?
Did British Racing Motors have to give permission to EMPI-Speedwell to use the name and logo?
Who asked who?

Pics are from the EMPI Kings Of The Road leaflet:
https://www.oldspeed.net/empi-catalog/images/empi-king-of-the-road-catalog.php

I’ve added to the post on p1 that The Owen Organisation (The Rubery Owen Group) has owned British Racing Motors since around 1952…

^An ad for the Owen Organisation from the 1958 Silverstone British GP meeting programme

As well as making his debut in a Cooper 500 F3 car, Graham Hill also raced for BRM from 1960 to 1966.

Here’s the British Racing Motors website
https://www.britishracingmotors.co.uk/home/

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-StockRocks-

[Bill Schwimmer]

Pretty interesting. Many similar details between the wheels. I would think they were designed and made in the same place.

[RockStock]

The Cooper 500 - a BRM Wheel Influence?

The car is a 1948 Cooper 500 Mk2, designed and built by John Cooper (& his dad Charlie) of BMC Mini performance fame. The wheels seem to be referred to as the Cooper 500 Wheel, and were used from 1948 up into the 50s on the Cooper 500s.

The Cooper 500 represented the beginning of F3, and was a very successful race car. It came 1st, 2nd, 3rd & 4th in the inaugural Silverstone Grand Prix in 1948.

My point is…the wheels have the handsome looks of a BRM about them - the dimensions, the spokes, the vents.
4-stud, but maybe it was used as inspiration for the BRM?

The Cooper 500 was driven by eminent racing figures such as Stirling Moss, Les Leston, Bernie Ecclestone, Ken Tyrell, Jack Brabham and Bruce McLaren.

Another Cooper 500 driver was Graham Hill, who we know became Workshop Foreman at Speedwell from around 1957…

And we also know BRMs were made for the Mini.
And the Cooper 500 Wheel in the first picture are cast magnesium and 15”. I wonder if they were made at the Rubery Owen foundry?

^Stirling Moss, 1949

^A Streamliner version of the Cooper 500 was made in 1951 - The T17 MkV(R) - to chase down speed records. The wheels look good, don’t they?
A second Streamliner was built in ‘53 - The Brandon Streamliner

The Silverstone Museum guide told me they were just a trailer wheel! So if you needed a spare, you would just go get one off a trailer.
I’m to be convinced of this…why would you make a trailer wheel out of magnesium?

And if you fancy further reading, as I did!

John Cooper
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Cooper_(car_maker)

Cooper 500 info
https://500race.org/marques/cooper/
https://www.goodwood.com/grr/f1/the-cooper-car-company-was-greater-than-the-sum-of-its-parts/
https://www.goodwood.com/grr/columnists/doug-nye/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-single-seater-cooper/

Streamliner info
http://www.ugofadini.com/cooperstory.html

Cooper Club
https://www.coopercars.org/NewsLetter_June2003.pdf

Mini BRMs

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-StockRocks-

[RockStock]

[dave conklin]

Thanks John. It was a blue or green beetle. The owner of the shop may have been seriously ill. Would love to track it down

[NJ John]

I live not far from Elkton. But, I’m not native to this state. I’ll do some research.
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1973 standard, yellow, lowered, 3” narrowed front, 1600 blo-thru turbo w/single dell 15.4@86, so far
11.41 et buggy. Long gone
Let’s go O’s! Let’s go O’s!
https://www.youtube.com/@AirSpooledGarage

[dave conklin]

Chris, I’m thinking that the pair at the Classic were either $2,000 or $3,000. Either way it was more than I could deal with at the time.

One other detail about the set I ended up with. The guy I got them from (Dana) bought them in 1982. They came from a VW shop in Elkton Maryland. The owner had them on a sedan that he raced. Dana told me that he really stepped up to buy them. $2,900.00! Unfortunately I haven’t been able to identify the car they came off of.

[RockStock]

Thanks David, great story! Love that you had one sitting next to you all the way home. Mad how some of these old VW/Porsche parts mesmerise us - it must be that intoxicating mix of beauty, desire & elusiveness

Ace picture of Gary Berg’s ‘67. Scenes like this help make the rims

Troy Palmer’s name comes up in the provenance of my wheels.

The VW Classic pair…leaves me wondering why you didn’t pull the trigger on those? Were they expensive? Looking tough with the slicks. I’ve only seen one set for sale in the wild too…the UK’s Steve Walker had them at Stanford Hall a few years back. I’ll try to get the story on those.

[dave conklin]

What a great thread. Thanks for starting it Chris.

BRM wheels first got on my radar back in the early 80s when HotVWs did the famous “Bergs Bomb” story on Gary‘s blue 67.

From that point on I always lusted after a set of those wheels. Finding a set in southwest Ohio was pretty unlikely though. Around the year 2000 a guy up in northern Ohio (same fellow that sold the NOS ones to the Bergs) put a set up for sale at a fairly reasonable price. If my memory serves me, it was $2500. They were in good shape, but one was bent slightly. I wanted them but just didn’t have the money. I think Troy Palmer ended up with those.

A couple years later, there was a pair for sale at the VW Classic. That’s the only ones that I’ve ever seen for sale in the wild.

Then, a year ago, my friend Don texted me from the Carlisle swap meet in Pennsylvania. They have several big swap meets there and this was the domestic car swap that weekend. A local guy from Pennsylvania had a big space selling Corvette parts plus a few VW parts. My friend sent me a picture of four BRM‘s and four sprint stars and said “aren’t these the wheels you’re looking for?”

He wanted quite a lot for them, but still below retail value. Don got his phone number for me. At first, I was not even going to call the guy. I didn’t need to spend that kind of money on a set of wheels but the more I looked at the pictures, the more I wanted them. When I called him, he explained that he didn’t want to ship them. I said perfect… I’m going to be in Carlisle next weekend for the Porsche swap meet. We can meet up and I can give you cash.
Luckily, I had just sold a car so I had some cash burning a hole in my pocket.

What I got was four wheels that had never been polished. The spokes and all of the edges are crisp and sharp. Unfortunately, one wheel had taken a shot on the backside, which bent it slightly and cracked a couple spokes. My original thought was to sell the three good ones and keep the broken one for a hose reel. But after the seven hour drive home from Pennsylvania with a wheel on the seat next to me, I couldn’t bear to part with them. LOL

I found a guy in California who has welded magnesium for decades and sent the broken one to him. Not only did he fix the cracks, but he welded small, magnesium gussets to the back of the repaired spokes to strengthen them. He also straightened out the ding on the backside of the rim. It looks amazing. Unfortunately, when he sent it back to me, he told me not to tell anyone that he did it. He did not want to do any more.

Restojohnny kindly sold me a good set of original studs and a machinist friend of mine helped me out by making a run of titanium reproduction lug nuts. I ended up putting them on my one-family owned original paint 62 sedan. Super excited to get it out this season.

[RockStock]

And the usual lovely photos from Shin Watanabe

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-StockRocks-