Catalogue of period factory and aftermarket wheels

[Original Poster]

Original post.........

[Cornpanzer]

Aactually Raj, there were probably more than a dozen manf. of Torque-Thrust style wheels back in the day. However, IMO there was only one company who made these in the Porsche bolt circle - American Racing.

"Torque Thrust Terry" who is one of the formost authorities on these wheels claims that "ALL" Americans had the "American Racing" script on the back and these must have been made by U.S.Mag....but I disagree.

1) I have copies of the advertising where American announced the Porsche wheels. I have never seen any period ads that would indicate that any other company made these.

2) I have pics of one of these wheels with American Racing decals, but no "American Racing" script cast into them. So, we know that American Racing did in fact make aluminum Porsche pattern torque-thrusts without casting thier name on the back.

3) The quality of the casting is consistant with American Racing

4) I have had nearly 30 of these wheels pass through my hands and none of them had American Racing cast into them. It would be remarkable odds that out of all of these, I never had any from the most common manufacturer!

[66S]

The 8 spoke Mcaffee wheels had a raised center for the hubcap. I believe Lillegard made the version with a flat center. They look somewhat like 65-66 Ferrari 275 GTB wheels to me. Those and AR wheels need to have the mounting face milled down and the lug nuts shortened in order to use them on the rear of a SWB 911 or they will rub the fender.

[Cornpanzer]

Here are some early 5.5" magnesium Americans. Note the center cap is a pop-in cap instead of a 5-ear cap. This is the same for the 6" magnesiums as well.

[Cornpanzer]

This is the first generation 6" magnesium American. Notice how the spokes are plain aound the edges. The spokes were also hollow on the backside...pretty fragile wheel.

The second generation added a strengthening rib on the backside of the spoke to partially fill the hollow.

[Cornpanzer]

This is a third generation 6" American magnesium. Notice that the spokes have a strengthening rip running from the lug area to the rim. They also had a rib on the backside of the spoke. Cool wheel!

[Cornpanzer]

This is a 8.5" magnesium American. These wheels as well as the 7" magnesium had a 5-ear cap similar to what the aluminum wheels above showed. Only seen a couple pair of these 8.5's

[haycait911]

old thread resurrection.

actually I did have a set of non-AR porsche pattern TT style wheels. they were a two piece wheel with an aluminum center welded to a steel barrel by steel tabs cast into the center. I'm not sure who the manufacturer was, 'Fenton' rings a bell. the looks very much like TT's but were very heavy.

Aactually Raj, there were probably more than a dozen manf. of Torque-Thrust style wheels back in the day. However, IMO there was only one company who made these in the Porsche bolt circle - American Racing.

"Torque Thrust Terry" who is one of the formost authorities on these wheels claims that "ALL" Americans had the "American Racing" script on the back and these must have been made by U.S.Mag....but I disagree.

1) I have copies of the advertising where American announced the Porsche wheels. I have never seen any period ads that would indicate that any other company made these.

2) I have pics of one of these wheels with American Racing decals, but no "American Racing" script cast into them. So, we know that American Racing did in fact make aluminum Porsche pattern torque-thrusts without casting thier name on the back.

3) The quality of the casting is consistant with American Racing

4) I have had nearly 30 of these wheels pass through my hands and none of them had American Racing cast into them. It would be remarkable odds that out of all of these, I never had any from the most common manufacturer!

[Harvey Weidman]

old thread resurrection.

actually I did have a set of non-AR porsche pattern TT style wheels. they were a two piece wheel with an aluminum center welded to a steel barrel by steel tabs cast into the center. I'm not sure who the manufacturer was, 'Fenton' rings a bell. the looks very much like TT's but were very heavy.

I have had the same experience as Cornpanzer with many more to study.
Please post photos. Most/all of them that I have seen were modified or a pattern near Porsche but not made for Porsche. The acid test is the back space. If they were made for Porsche, the back space would be 4 3/4..+ or so.
H

[LongRanger]

Time for a bümp? . . .

. . . especially for You Guys w/ Campys and ATSs --- and any/all other off-brand exotica . . .