Race Cars and Motorsports

Hello I have come upon this set of wheels I think are minilights but not
sure. They have been sitting in the attic of my Dads shop for the last
30 -35 years. My dads recient retirement and the shop under new ownership
I have acquired this set of wheels/tires
Tires are Dunlop Racing front size is 200/575-14
Rear is 290/575-14 the rims must be magnesium as they are very
lightwieght. Posted are pics and a close up of the only marking I can
find on the wheels. Any help identifying them would be great.
Also they are for sale just not sure how much ... Yet
Best regards William

Welcome to the message board, William!


Those are Watanabe wheels...

You can read a bit about them here: [www.watanabe.com.au]

You know... that was fun. Let's try another!

Can any of you tell me who made this wheel?

Thank you Moderator, this helps a great deal. Would you happen to know
what I should be asking for the set? The fronts are about 8-9 width and
the rears are like 12- 12 1/2 also it seems one of the four tires (front) will not hold air.

I don't know what old Watanabe wheels are worth. The tires are easier... they're worth next to nothing. They're way too old to be safe to drive on. By the time they were two or three years old, the rubber aged and they would have been uncompetitive to race on. It might be interesting to take a close look at them though, since there's probably a date code molded into their sidewalls.

The wheels might possibly be worth several hundred bucks for the set, maybe even a grand, but obviously ONLY if you can find someone who can use them. Can your dad remember what they came off of? That would be a big help. To fit such wide rear wheels, it had to be a car with big fender flares. I'm not very knowledgeable on the specifics yet, but I know SCCA rules for production classes shifted a lot from the mid-1970s into the 1980s. First, they started allowing slicks. Then, they allowed wider and wider tires in "Production" classes. The problem is that vintage racing clubs usually limit Production class cars to 1972-specs. On BritishRacecar.com the silver MGA and the two ex-Huffaker MGBs are good examples of that: now that they're vintage racing, they're running on much narrower wheels/tires than they raced on when they were SCCA front-runners! They race on treaded tires now, whereas they raced on slicks in their heyday.

My hunch is that your wheels might suit that rare SCCA regional racer who's still running a car that was put together in the 1970s or 1980s. For one thing, the newer cars are more likely to have five lug hubs.

Take a minute to measure the hole spacing and also the backspacing (i.e. the distance from the hub face to the back edge of the rim). Any potential buyer will need to know those measurements, and the bolt pattern in particular might help you narrow the field of potential users. It's just a hunch, but to me these wheels say "Datsun".

Thanks Curtis, yes they say Datsun to me also. My Dad said He thought they
came from an open wheel car possibly formula V or Ford. But to say for
sure would be guessing at best. I fitted them to a '70 Datsun 510 back in
1990 but they were way to wide for it to even sit on the ground so it
would have to have been a flared fender car . The bolt pattern is 4 on 4 1/2 the
back spacing on the front wheels is 5 5/8" the total wheel width is 9"
The rear back spacing is 5 1/4"
Total wheel width 12 ".
There is a code stamped into the sidewall " P512669" I contacted Dunlop
But nobody knew anything I guess they are to old .To bad as they look
To be in as new condition maybe good for a vintage museum car.
Anyway I know much more than I did a few days ago thanks again Curtis
If you hear of anyone needing vintage wheels let them know about my set? Thanks again
Best regards William

The Watanabe wheels would definitely NOT have met SCCA rules for Formula Ford or Formula V. (Too wide, for one thing.) Possibly legal for "Super Vee" -- think Formula Ford chassis combined with VW engine but with wings and wider rear tires! -- but I expect any competitive FSV car would have had modular wheels. Keep kicking it around though. You'll get it figured out!

---

Nobody has guessed "BBS RS" for the photo I posted. Good! They're obviously some sort of BBS copy, but I think they're more attractive than most replicas. I'd like to figure out the make and model names, and the owner doesn't know.

They are 4x114.3 metric.......wish I had that pattern!