Hub Caps

[Irish911]

Not sure if the search function is working as nothing came up under hub caps.

Just wanted to know if original hub caps for steel wheels have dates on them like the wheels do. If not how does one tell the difference between original and repo hub caps? Also when did the centre emblem change from painted to just stainless?

Thanks.

[Irish911]

Couldn't find an answer to this elsewhere so am relying on the wheel gurus. How to distinguish original from repo hub caps and when did the coloured emblem change to no colour? Or maybe the colour was an option or maybe only on chrome wheels?

[NeunElf]

I think I've seen posts on the 356 Registry forums to the effect that the original hubcaps did have date stamps. But the 356 Registry's down now, so searching there isn't an option at the moment. On the other hand, I have quite a few hubcaps and I haven't seen a date stamp.

But, not many people can/will restore hubcaps, so getting originals probably isn't the way to go.

I can tell you more about the crests. 911/912 hubcaps are the same as 356C hubcaps. The very first 356C hubcaps had no emblem. The no emblem hubcaps used to be very rare but I think they're now being reproduced. You usually see the color Porsche crest on 356C hubcaps. The 356C options catalog in Miller & Merritt is dated September 1964 and does NOT list any hubcap crest options. When the 911 & 912 were introduced, Porsche switched to "tarnished chrome" crests.

Colored crests were optional on early 911/912 hubcaps. The September 1965 accessories price list includes:

9101 Hub cap with colored emblem, 4 pieces DM16.00 US$4.00

You can get cheap, used hubcaps at swap meets and have the crests rechromed for less than the price of new reproduction crests.

[Jim Breazeale]

Lemmerz (the maker of the hub caps) stopped putting date stamps on hubcaps sometime in 1967.

Regards

Jim

[Bill Simmeth]

The hubcaps on my '66 has dates. Really hard to see on two of them but they're there.

[Irish911]

Thanks Jim(s) and Bill for the responses. Cleared things up. I was looking at all the caps on e-bay and there was only one that appeared to have a date stamp, one without the crest, as described by Jim.