The Cal-look Lounge

Not mine, but here you go.....

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=1058259

$2500 per wheel including cap (and any mag cracks are free)  Recession be damned!

Wow... guess it's worth it if someone pays it!

You could probably have two sets CNC machined from billet magnesium for less than that!  But, if you got to have the original.........

Lucky for me I'm not that hardcore...lol.  I'd be pleased as punch to have the coin sitting around for a set of repros...lol.  Well, actually, for my '70 heap, I'd settle for a set of 2.0 liter Porsche alloys... had a set once, but they interfered with my balljoints so I sold them off. 

 :o

That is just plain goofy.

BRM prices have always been goofy. Someone may know more about this but when i was unloading all of my crap at '06 Classics the word around the campfire had it that a set sold for $16K. In '92 a set of four popped up for $6K (that's $9,600 in today's money...for FOUR). In one of my early '80s Hot VWs there's a photo of a set for sale in the swap area at an event for $2,800. Let's call it 1982. Today that would be $6,500.

Now bear in mind that the reproduction market has increased the awareness of these wheels. There are simply more people willing to pay dumb money than ever before.

I'll always love traditional California Look styling, but I don't think I'll ever be especially hung up on having all the original parts from that era.  To each their own, but I just don't have the interest, which is a positive, as it means one less person competing for all the rare stuff... lol. ;D

I'm with you. I can think of a zillion better things to do with $12K--like build another car!  ;)

BTW, you can still build an affordable car with era-correct parts. Porsche 356 wheels are as classic 'look as you can get (they're in just about every CL issue from the start) and you can get real ones for $30 apiece. Lots of correct and authentic parts are inexpensive that way.

What's amazing is you can get the original wheels for less than the chromie aftermarket repops! ;D

and they'll be straight, too! Plus you won't have to pay someone to blast off all that bothersome and tacky chrome (that will peel anyway). Yeah, it pays to buy real parts.

Geez the price of those just gave me a piss shiver....

 ;)

For that kind of money I could fix all of my cars.

I had  set of five OG 356 wheels I acquired through an estate sale last year for dirt cheap... but no car to put them on, so I sold 'em off to people who could use them. 

A set sold on Euro E-bay for $14K about three years ago.
I remember feeling bad about spending $3,500 for 5 in about 1992.

If only someone made a low cost reproduction............................................oh wait.   :)

I got offered a NOS pair in the boxes for $5k about  5 years ago.  I had the cash....but decided to buy a new bathroom instead!

I'm still waiting for that reproduction...'cause aluminum ain't the answer. I'll be damned if I'm going to spend silly money building big power only to waste it on wheels that weigh close to or more than steel wheels.

I do know a company that will reproduce any cast wheel in mag. It takes about 15 buyers (sets) and costs about $750 a wheel. I just need to find another 14 suckers like me!

The bonus is that the foundry uses a low-iron/nickel alloy. The iron and nickel contents are what makes mag oxidize so quickly. It sets up a galvanic corrosion, and since those metals are more noble than mag, the mag is always the one that oxidizes. 

[/hijack]

There are always going to be stupid people - the seller might just find one according to what they've been selling for!

What makes you say that?  Look at Richard's post.  I'm sure all his friends were telling him that $3500 was "stupid" back then.  But now he has them for that BARGAIN price, he's laughing.
The real question is, what will they be worth in 2025?

That bargain price is $5370 in today's dollars... Still not bad, considering the ones posted for sale.

People are entitled to their opinion and mine is that 12k for these wheels is just stupid.  Thats why I said that...makes sense to me!