Banjo Steering Wheel on Original Speedsters?

From my restoration book.

I think this is the perfect question for @Gordon Nichols

He's friendly with the northeast type 356 folks, and I'm sure some of them would know for sure.

I do know that 550s came with banjos, Moto Lita, or Nardi from the factory.

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"Image not found", @MikeM. Try it as an attachment.

Banjo wheels were not on Speedsters from the Porsche factory,

not sure when they started the later wheel with 2 sets of spokes  but I know a late 1952 couple had that style and not the Banjo with its 3 sets of spokes.

But with VWs and Porsche never say “never” because you could probably special order most anything !

@MikeM- I'm not getting anything...

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As Danny alluded, we have a LOT of 356 cars in the Northeast and yes, they originally came with some sort of "Banjo" wheel.  According to the comparison (stored somewhere on here) written by Rich MacKoul, the "Pre-A" cars came from the factory with a gray banjo wheel like this:

Notice the lack of tensioner bars (because of the thick spoke) making these wheels kind-of flimsy.  I've been told that you could request an Ivory colored wheel on Pre-A cars, but I have not confirmed this.  There were quite a few options you could request from the factory or dealers back then.

The 356 A version (1956 - 1959) had an Ivory Banjo wheel from the factory (you could request a Gray wheel at the dealer, if they had one) and looked like this:

Again, no spoke tensioners.  Colored Bakelite wheels with 2 or 3 sets of rod spokes came available as aftermarket items because they had sliding tensioner bars which made the wheel much stiffer as you slid the tensioner bars towards the rim from the hub.  Tap them out a bit and the wheel got stiff for racing.  Tap them back in a bit and it got softer for the ride home from the track.

@Troy Sloan I looked through 5 or 6 years of TYP356ne event photos and never saw a wheel with three sets of three rod spoke tensioners as you posted.  Doesn't mean they weren't available from the factory (and I bet that someone in the 356 Registry would know), but if they were, you would have expected to see more of them, not just on cars that were raced.

When they went to the 356 B model (1960+) they went to a black wheel.

MANY Pre-A/A buyers opted for an after-market wheel, often available at the dealer as a dealer-installed option, like this Non-Nardi wood rim, flashing ring version:

Or this more traditional Nardi version (no flash ring) that we all know:

ALL of these photos came from original 356 cars here in the Northeast as members of the TYP356ne club.

Please let me know if the photos don't show up.

gn

The small slide tubes on the wheel spokes are for tension, to increase the wheel tension, slide the tubes down on the spokes.  Use a piece of thick plastic lightly tap the tubes to increase the tension. I mark where they come to rest then back them off enough to add a single drop of Super Glue to each spoke then tap the tube back down to that mark.

I think what Troy wanted to know was if the typical 3-spoke banjo wheel(typically seen on Spyders) was OE on Speedsters.

@DannyP posted:

I think what Troy wanted to know was if the typical 3-spoke banjo wheel(typically seen on Spyders) was OE on Speedsters.

Exactly! 

  I just got this from one of the TYP356ne historians:

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@Gordon Nichols posted:

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...Only difference I note is that on some early wheels the center cap is plain -- no logo...

Not surprising, as there were Porsche cars before there was a Porsche badge.

Depending on what story you believe, the crest wasn't designed until 1952, and probably didn't make it onto cars until 1953.

I don't believe that three spoke banjo wheel came on Speedsters from the factory; I've only seen them on Spyder 550s and early pre-A 356's.