T5 wood steering wheels

356 Porsche-related discussions and questions.
Message
Author
User avatar
Joris Koning
356 Fan
Posts: 2505
Joined: Thu Mar 27, 2008 12:38 pm
Location: Netherlands

Re: T5 wood steering wheels

#16 Post by Joris Koning »

Jules, what's the earliest Kardex you have that lists a wood wheel? The flat VDM wheels seem to appear in '56. Before that I believe the factory used Nardi wheels if a wood wheel was ordered but this is nothing more than a hypothesis based on 2-3 observations. Agree with you on the T-5 wheels
'56 Coupe
'57 Coupe
'59 Cab 
'60 Coupe

User avatar
George Hussey
356 Fan
Posts: 746
Joined: Tue Mar 24, 2009 12:22 pm
Location: atlanta georgia
Contact:

Re: T5 wood steering wheels

#17 Post by George Hussey »

Jules Dielen wrote: Fri Jul 08, 2022 4:07 pm Thank you George! That bottom one looks like a T6 wheel. The top one is indeed a T5, do you have more info on it? Is it original to the car?

Jules neither is original to the car although they are both genuine. Bruce Crawford refinished both of them. One was on a speedster with a t5 front clip on it, the other on a 62 cabriolet
George Hussey

User avatar
Sebastian Gaeta
356 Fan
Posts: 3047
Joined: Tue Mar 25, 2008 5:50 pm
Location: Ann Arbor, MI

Re: T5 wood steering wheels

#18 Post by Sebastian Gaeta »

George Hussey wrote: Sat Aug 06, 2022 3:47 pm
Jules Dielen wrote: Fri Jul 08, 2022 4:07 pm Thank you George! That bottom one looks like a T6 wheel. The top one is indeed a T5, do you have more info on it? Is it original to the car?

Jules neither is original to the car although they are both genuine. Bruce Crawford refinished both of them. One was on a speedster with a t5 front clip on it, the other on a 62 cabriolet
George, neither of the cars you mentioned would have come from the factory with a T5 steering wheel. The fact that Bruce refinished it likely means he converted the T5 wheel to wood as he has done for hundreds of people including me. I have two T6 wheels that he converted and they are lovely, but the only thing genuine about them are the hubs and spokes. It would be great if Bruce could confirm whether or not that T5 wheel started life as a wood wheel, but if he did it would be the first one I’ve ever seen in 30+ years of looking at Porsche wood wheels.

Don’t misunderstand, I would love to be wrong about this but the prevailing wisdom has always been that there were no T5 VDM factory wood wheels with the same hub and flat spokes as the T5 VDM standard black plastic wheel.
Sebastian Gaeta
www.arbormotion.com

Registry #8339

'65 C coupe
'64 C cab

-------
2014 Boxster 981
2005 997 C2 Cab
1967 Karmann Ghia Convertible
1966 VW Single Cab
1966 Ducati Cafe Racer
1964 Karmann Ghia Coupe
1963 Beetle

User avatar
Mike Wilson
Classifieds Monitor
Posts: 11492
Joined: Tue Apr 15, 2008 4:37 pm
Location: SW Los Angeles

Re: T5 wood steering wheels

#19 Post by Mike Wilson »

I was thinking the same thing; ask Bruce.

Mike
Mike Wilson
Lomita, CA
'63 B coupe

User avatar
Michael Doyle
356 Fan
Posts: 510
Joined: Sat Mar 29, 2008 1:20 pm
Location: Ventura, CA

Re: T5 wood steering wheels

#20 Post by Michael Doyle »

Spencer Harris wrote: Sat Aug 06, 2022 1:36 pm
Jules Dielen wrote: Sat Aug 06, 2022 1:09 pm Do you know of any BT5 cars that had a factory wood wheel like the T6? I have yet to see one. I have seen wood wheel options on COAs and Kardexes for A and BT6/Cs quite often, just not on a T5.
Well, this BT5 was for sort of a special customer:

Cover (Large).jpg

Inside Ferry Porsche's Carrera.pdf
Put this into the right perspective of time .. Ferry owned and drove a special paint to sample Blue T5B 1600GS Carrera Cabriolet. When he went away for a trip, the factory guys took his car and “converted” it to the first T6 Carrera 2 Cabriolet. Same Blue paint as well.

Very well could be when the conversion was done a T6 VDM Wood Wheel was installed as well, and that’s what you see in the cover photo. /MD

User avatar
Martin Benade
356 Fan
Posts: 12186
Joined: Wed Nov 23, 2011 10:52 am
Location: Cleveland, Ohio

Re: T5 wood steering wheels

#21 Post by Martin Benade »

Did they rebody it with a T6 body?
Cleveland Ohio
62 Cabriolet
56 VW
02 IS 300
04 Sienna

User avatar
Jim Breazeale
Classifieds Monitor
Posts: 2802
Joined: Thu Mar 27, 2008 8:07 pm
Tag: SF Giants Fan
Location: SF Bay Area
Contact:

Re: T5 wood steering wheels

#22 Post by Jim Breazeale »

The car in the picture is a T6, not a T5.
Jim Breazeale
www.easypor.com
www.facebook.com/pages/European-Auto-Salvage-Yard-EASY/120458108029410

User avatar
Sebastian Gaeta
356 Fan
Posts: 3047
Joined: Tue Mar 25, 2008 5:50 pm
Location: Ann Arbor, MI

Re: T5 wood steering wheels

#23 Post by Sebastian Gaeta »

Jim Breazeale wrote: Sun Aug 07, 2022 11:37 am The car in the picture is a T6, not a T5.
It started out life as a T5 but was modified by the factory after an accident and *upgraded* to a T6. I am sure you know the car Jim, it was Ferry's personal Carrera cabriolet.
Sebastian Gaeta
www.arbormotion.com

Registry #8339

'65 C coupe
'64 C cab

-------
2014 Boxster 981
2005 997 C2 Cab
1967 Karmann Ghia Convertible
1966 VW Single Cab
1966 Ducati Cafe Racer
1964 Karmann Ghia Coupe
1963 Beetle

User avatar
Sebastian Gaeta
356 Fan
Posts: 3047
Joined: Tue Mar 25, 2008 5:50 pm
Location: Ann Arbor, MI

Re: T5 wood steering wheels

#24 Post by Sebastian Gaeta »

Martin Benade wrote: Sat Aug 06, 2022 10:17 pm Did they rebody it with a T6 body?
Only from the windshield forward.
Sebastian Gaeta
www.arbormotion.com

Registry #8339

'65 C coupe
'64 C cab

-------
2014 Boxster 981
2005 997 C2 Cab
1967 Karmann Ghia Convertible
1966 VW Single Cab
1966 Ducati Cafe Racer
1964 Karmann Ghia Coupe
1963 Beetle

User avatar
Michael Doyle
356 Fan
Posts: 510
Joined: Sat Mar 29, 2008 1:20 pm
Location: Ventura, CA

Re: T5 wood steering wheels

#25 Post by Michael Doyle »

The T5 rear end was fit with a T6 twin grill Deck Lid and T6 lower Carrera muffler valance. /MD

User avatar
Jules Dielen
356 Fan
Posts: 3165
Joined: Fri Mar 28, 2008 3:25 pm
Location: Arizona

Re: T5 wood steering wheels

#26 Post by Jules Dielen »

T5 carreras already had 2 grills... but no wood steering wheel :D
Jules

Water pumps are for windshield washers only.

User avatar
Michael Doyle
356 Fan
Posts: 510
Joined: Sat Mar 29, 2008 1:20 pm
Location: Ventura, CA

Re: T5 wood steering wheels

#27 Post by Michael Doyle »

Jules Dielen wrote: Sun Aug 07, 2022 8:26 pm T5 carreras already had 2 grills... but no wood steering wheel :D
That’s up for discussion. Twin grill on a T5 was optionally fit to a Carrera GT , not a GS as was Ferry’s car. The lower T6 Carrera muffler valance was also added. Yes appears to be the T6 Wood Steering Wheel as well. The factory guys obviously took some liberties in how they “repaired” this Cabriolet while Ferry was away. /MD

User avatar
Steve Proctor
356 Fan
Posts: 1318
Joined: Fri Mar 28, 2008 12:15 am
Location: Spring Hill, TN

Re: T5 wood steering wheels

#28 Post by Steve Proctor »

"One was on a speedster with a t5 front clip on it"

Was this car Rolly Resos's car, orange with a good bit of primer? If so, that car was seriously cool, as is Rolly!!!
STP
Steve Proctor
Member Since 1977
VIN 84757

User avatar
Al Zim
356 Fan
Posts: 4307
Joined: Thu Mar 27, 2008 12:37 pm
Location: FT.WORTH/DALLAS TEXAS
Contact:

Re: T5 wood steering wheels

#29 Post by Al Zim »

Jules: I have never seen a FACTORY Porsche wood wheel configured into the 1960 spokes. WELCOME TO TEXAS!
www.allzim.com 
356 Parts and Services
www.facebook.com/ZimsAuto/
www.instagram.com/zims_autotechnik/

User avatar
Joris Koning
356 Fan
Posts: 2505
Joined: Thu Mar 27, 2008 12:38 pm
Location: Netherlands

Re: T5 wood steering wheels

#30 Post by Joris Koning »

To add to the discussion. This bulletin dated November, 1962 makes specific mention of wood wheels now being available under option code 9214
Attachments
IMG_20220901_200959.jpg
'56 Coupe
'57 Coupe
'59 Cab 
'60 Coupe

Post Reply