If you’ve found me on Instagram, you will know that I got a nice gift in the wheel last week from Robbie: nine beautiful Motorfan mags from the late seventies. Instant content, and a serious high that made my wife question my alcohol tolerance. The buzz is now wearing off and I’m ready to do some sharing.

Since we’ve been on a bit of a Keystone/Target Racing kick lately, I’ll start with this advertisement from 1979. As little as the name Target Racing is known, Keystone Racing Original Wheels is even less known. Keystone however, is the overarching brand and manufacturer behind the Target Racing line-up. That line up, appears to have spawned from this Keystone Target Mag, which you’ll note doesn’t actually carry the name “Target Racing”.

The Japanese text in the advertisement translates as follows:

Attractive Mag
Elegant, or hard tune – the best partner to tailor your car.
Sold by Keystone – only developing good things!

 I love the fact that the word hard (ハード) gets used in the ad with respect to style or state of tune!

In terms of size offerings on the Target Mag, I wouldn’t say that any of them really fit with what we would consider “hard tune” today, but they would have been reasonably aggressive in a time when 6J was a big OEM size.  A good variety of offsets and PCD options were available though, and retail price was quite reasonable in comparison to premium brands.  That however, came with some significant compromises in the mass department.  Compared to the Rays Engineering Xray featured earlier this week, there is approximately a 20% penalty to be paid in kilograms.

This is a single piece cast wheel after all, and in terms of weight and performance simply can’t compare with the spun shell sections of modular wheels, and the more complex designs that casting a centre individually allows.  Like the Target Racing wheels we have looked at before, the Keystone Target Mag has no identifying marks on the hub pad, or back of the wheel.  Instead, on the wheel face each of the four main spokes has different text cast on them: JWL, “Target Mag”, “K R” and the fourth spoke identifies wheel size and offset.

The original production date of the Target Mag is at this time unknown, with references to it seen in 1978, we know that it preceded the Target Racing line-up by at least 1 year.  Likely it came much sooner than that.  The Target Racing line-up, with modular construction represented a shift towards a high-end wheel.  In comparison to the Target Mag, the Target Racing TR-01 which shared a similarly designed centre, was a full 1kg lighter and right in the neighbourhood of premium ultra-light wheels, but still more affordable.

That said, the Target Mag is still a sought after wheel that today can command as much as 60000円 for larger sizes when in good condition.  The look offered could be considered unique to, but reminiscent of  the popular Hayashi Street. Like the Street, which works well in both OEM fitment for Uncle Bob, and hacked and flared shakotan fitment for Tanaka-san, the words “elegant” and “hard” likely do apply to the Target Mag just as the ad suggests.

And as the ad suggests… hard or elegant, your girl will probably be indifferent and do her own thing.  In 1979 she looked at a toy airplane.  In 2016 she looks at her freaking cell phone.  Keystone Target Mag… the best partner to tailor your car.  Maybe the best partner period.

Last week Robbie showed us his Target Racing TR-03.  With a four spoke style reminiscent of the SSR MK-II, the TR-03 is not a well known wheel.  It’s usage however, probably goes unrecognized more than it should simple because of its similarity to the popular MK-II. It takes an educated eye to tell the two wheels apart. Much of the Target Racing line up in fact, does well to hide behind wheels of similar design made by other manufacturers. This advertisement sent in from a 1979 issue of Motor Fan, shows nine Target Racing wheel models by Keystone.

Kyusha shoes fans will recognize some familiar shapes besides that of the SSR MK-II.  There is the familiar style of the Hayashi Racing Street, which is not at all unique to, but certainly done best by Hayashi.  Itall Racing, Toyo Z, Dunlop all have similar designs.  On the bottom row, we see something very similar to the Focus Racing 5,  the Easy Rider Spit Modena and the Work Equip 01.  Unfortunately, the sent advertisement doesn’t include any model names. I’ve translated the original text into english, and done my best to fill in what model names we know from other references.

From the advertisement featured in Robbie’s Target Racing TR-03 post, we know the TR-01 and TR-02.  We have to note however, that the wheels in his advertisement, and all Target Racing wheels that I have ever seen anywhere except for the advertisement featured in this post, use 12 bolts to hold wheel shells to centres. The wheels in this ad from 1979 all use 16 bolts. It’s an interesting dilemma.  As this ad announces the debut of Target Racing, perhaps we should consider that original wheels all used 16 bolts, but the design was quickly revised to use only 12. Regardless, I’m not going to get hung up on it. If you are, then stop reading now and skip to the next post.

The third wheel featured in the ad, is certainly the most unique! The Mario, was featured in a separate post four years ago, as a mystery wheel that I had purchased in pursuit of the Advan A3B.  At the time I had no idea what it was, but have since come across this ad which seems to identify it as a product of Target Racing/Keystone Racing Original Wheels… and another separate reference which identifies it with Aoi Enterprise.  More info is needed. Hopefully we can find sufficient ammunition to address that in the future.

The Alspeed mesh is the Target Racing model that I have known the longest, but it doesn’t quite match the rendering in the advertisement.  Besides the number of shell bolts, the PCD area and mesh pattern is slightly different.  The ad might show an original version of the Alspeed, or it may be another model altogether.  Unlike the other known Target Racing models, the Alspeed uses a front mounted centre section, as opposed to a sandwich mount or rear mount.  Common to all Target Racing wheels though, seems to be black socket head cap fasteners, and JWL markings directly opposite of the valve stem on the outer shell, or wheel center in the case of the Alspeed.

All sizing stickers that I’ve seen on Target Racing wheels are the same as well: simply formatted with size, PCD and nothing else.  Most examples that I’ve observed also have a sticker on the top of the lip, opposite the valve stem above the JWL markings.  On the TR-01 through TR-03 that sticker says “Target Racing”.  The Alspeed gets a model specific sticker.  Markings on the back of the wheel pad unfortunately, are inconsistent from model to model. Many having no markings at all, and thus using them to identify wheels is not simple.

These things in mind, I went back through my notes on the Focus Racing 5 and Work Equip 01 looking for a Target Racing wheel that was mistaken for something from a more popular brand.

Voila! Twelve black socket head cap bolts.  The remnants of a sticker in the usual spot on the lip, and it’s hard to make out, but JWL on the shell directly opposite of the valve stem.  Looking at the wheel center itself, compared to the Equip 01, the area in black is different, with a taller raised ridges and larger edges.  This is clearly not an Equip 01.

Now… if someone can send me some better images and maybe a model name… we can add a new model to the database.