FPS clones?

[Dick Steinkamp]

I really like this OE E9 wheel style (option on some E3's I think)

My plan is to mount up a set with tires and trade off occasionally with the steel wheels and hubcaps currently on my Bavaria.

I have 6 of the FPS wheels. Most are marked like this on the back...

FPS, the BMW roundel, and the wheel size.

A couple of them add the part number (1102979.1) and the date manufactured...

I've got one that has the Roundel and the wheel size but not the FPS. Instead, this logo (and a different PN 1111613.1)...

This wheel is not quite identical to the ones marked FPS. You'd have to look hard to see the differences and when installed on the car there would not be visible differences.

Does anyone know the story behind these wheels?

 

[Jon B]

I've got one that has the Roundel and the wheel size but not the FPS. Instead, this logo (and a different PN 1111613.1)...

Dick, your wheel with the M logo was cast by MAHLE.

 

[Dick Steinkamp]

That's certainly the Mahle logo on that wheel.

I didn't know BMW sourced that wheel from both FPS (Petrini) and Mahle.

The number on the wheel must not be the actual PN since it is different from that in the parts book.

Great catch, Jon. Thanks!

 

[Christoph]

Now this is something. BMW more than once bought wheels of the same design from different manufacturers, e.g. the E30 cross-spoke. I was not aware it was the case with the sand-cast Pedrini, too. What I knew before is at least two versions of the wheels exist. E3-Club friends showed me, always found it very hard to distinguish. The rectangular holes differ slightly in size, and the outer curve of the rim (where it bends from outwards to upwards) is either sharp or a little more rounded. Everybody here thought they just belonged to different production runs at FPS. The wheels with the larger holes were called the "later" version, now it seems these came from Mahle.

Once again I recognise the need to get an "early" Parts Catalogue. Mine is the last edition with all the '75 & '76 changes but lots of discontinued earlier parts gone. The page here in mine does not mention the Mahle wheel anymore. BMW, of course, is wrong: The manufacturer's name is "Pedrini" with a "d".

After @Dick Steinkamp showed me here, I made it a full educational Sunday. On the net you will not find much about FPS. Hemmings has a short article: <https://www.hemmings.com/stories/article/fps-fratelli-pedrini-sarezzo>. The rest is in Italian, to complicate it further. It seems in 1963 three brothers (=fratelli) Giovanni, Antero and Roberto Pedrini founded a casting company for non-iron metals in their home town, Sarezzo, a small town near Brescia. They quickly became a supplier for several Italian and other European car builders. It looks like they eventually sold the business to a "Gruppo Pel". At the end of September 2020 one (the last?) of the brothers, Roberto, passed aged 82. Two articles in regional newspapers state he had a keen interest in music, a wonderful Baritone voice, and gave up a career as a singer for the family business.