Now that's an interesting topic, when tar babe was bought by Ron Fleming, he changed the wheels, when it went to Mexico it also had another wheel change or two.
Not until I got it did it return to BRMS, so nobody would dare suggest that Ron F, didn't know what he was doing.
So change is good, go for it Jick.
Russell
When restoring a historic car most pick a point in time and bring the car back to that specification.
When Ron changed the wheels on Tar Babe it had not yet become a car of historic interest.
But if you wanted today to emulate how Ron set up the car you could pick that point in time.
Point is Historic cars are restored to a point in time.
When you pick a rim (or chassis) that was never on the car then your restoration is no longer historically correct.
Historically correct cars (in non VW circles) can be found at events like Pebble beach, Monterey reunion and Goodwood.
I've decided to edit this as after reading you post again MG I have misunderstood the vain in which you were writing..... Sorry but a ver good point
Wrong.... The car was more historic before Ron got it as far as cal look is concerned as it was famous for its quality, ask
Ron and he will admit this, he treated the car as race car and was not so into it for how it looked and was built that is all down to Greg .
Rons changes were all about speed....
So my new reply is...
So to counter above if we look from today at tar babe entering a concures de elegance I agree that it would need to be 100% right! however I don't think that all cars being restored need to be a 100% correct! they need to be 100% saved. I think that tar babe was a historic car when Ron took it over all be it after a short history but a respected one in the Vw circles at the time.
I think the problem with any race cars they all evolve not just year to year but race to race, over the last few year string to restore some simple Vws to original condition has proved to be almost impossible to do correctly, the biggest problem being that during a restoration you try and do things a 100% but in reality this is most likely better than when made originally .
Anyway Jick change the wheels, you cal always chane them back... It's not like your doing a roof chop and changing the original car..... Unlike tar babe lol....