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

[RockStock]

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

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-StockRocks-

[vw356]

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.
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Current projects:
1950's Volkswagens!
51,52,54's,55,56's,57,58's,'60's And then a bunch of '60's, but the '50's are my favorites..

[RockStock]

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
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-StockRocks-

[[email protected]]

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

[RockStock]

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
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-StockRocks-

[RockStock]

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.
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-StockRocks-

[RockStock]

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…
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-StockRocks-

[RockStock]

Speedwell-Empi

[RockStock]

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/
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-StockRocks-

[RockStock]

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?
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-StockRocks-

[RockStock]

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

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-StockRocks-

[Touch Nicks Thing]

Awesome stories! Love this thread!

[RockStock]

Thanks Nick. Hope we attract a few more contributions!
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-StockRocks-

[Bill Schwimmer]

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.

[Dean1]

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.

[EverettB]

[RockStock]

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 )? 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
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-StockRocks-

[Jake Martinez]

[restojohnny]

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
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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 !!! "

[RockStock]