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Tuesday, July 05, 2011

ATS old-school wheels

Wheel fetish series

In the 70’s, it was still the norm to see cars, factory equipped with steel rims and chrome hubcap.
Those with alloy wheels were either top of the line models or cars from very expensive marques.
Of course, the aftermarket industry saw this as a lucrative opportunity to develop wheels to enhance the performance (by lighter rolling weight), handling (stiffer structure) and looks (sportier design) of the stock automobiles.
One of them, was a wheel manufacturer known as, ATS of Germany.
The alloy wheel they designed and designated as code# 55151, is one of my favorites.
These were fitted on special VW 1303 LS Cabriolet of the 70’s.
1303’s have better suspension utilizing MacPherson struts,

and the ATS alloy wheels made the suspension setup even more responsive.
The VW 1303 was the last of the German made classic air-cooled VW Beetle.
ATS classic wheels were appropriate German made equipment on this classic icon!

1:43 by Paul’s Model Art from my shelf  of classic VW’s.