Car wheels-rim- sizes have grown tremendously over the decades. Fifteen inch rims are considered quaint today as car manufacturers are now offering 20 inch rims and aftermarket 22s.

The classic Porsche Fuch rims first offered in 1967 was made by the Otto Fuchs Metallwerke company, a wheel supplier for Porsche, but was designed by Heinrich Klie of the Porsche model department, who is also credited for designing the classic six dial Porsche 911 dash.

(Early Porsche Fuch wheel)

(Porsche 997 GT3 RS wheel)

Early sports car wheels were made of Magnesium. This lead to the term "mag" wheels which has been applied to any sport car wheel made of an alloy. Due to magnesium's poor ductility (breaks easily) and propensity to burn efforts were made to switch to aluminium, another light metal.

(Aluminium mag wheel on a 1970 Corvette)

The benefits of a light wheel are many; lower unsprung weight, better brake ventilation, better handling and stopping distances. Given this, it is curious why large wheels are now so popular since they can degrade both ride quality and handling characteristics.

( Beautiful modern Interpretation of a mag wheel on a Mustang Boss)

Prior to alloy rims, spoke wheels were very popular but aren't really great for high performance application since they are not as rigid as alloy rims and can flex under load.

(Wire wheels on a Jaguar E-Type)