[alfa] Ronal wheels

["John Hertzman" <johnhertzman@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Benjamin Woenig asked about a source for the Ronal wheels which he had seen on "a website where someone had put them on an Alfetta GTV and they looked great. They were similar in style to the wheels on the SZ." Ray Cordova replied "I have Ronal wheels on my GTV 6, I got them from the Ronal distributor here in southern California.  In fact, if you go to their web site, they provide a gallery of pictures showing what different cars look like with various styles of wheels.  The GTV 6, in the gallery is mine."
 
Possible confusion. The Ronal website (ronalusa.com) does show many current and past Ronal wheels, including the type Ray has and the type on the Vermont 164 which had prompted Ben's question, but it does not show anything remotely "similar in style to the wheels on the SZ." The current range of Ronal wheel designs covers the gamut of variations offered by most of the less outlandish aftermarket wheel brands, but nothing that stands out. The "similar to SZ" would have described the Ronal A1, sold here in the late seventies through late eighties in two sizes and two bolt patterns, a 14" x 6" and 15" x 7" four bolt which fit the Alfetta, Fiat, Alfasud and similar, and a 15" x 7" five bolt which fits the GTV6, Milano and similar fitments. Both were extensively used by ARI, the US Alfa distributor, on "Special Edition" Alfettas and GTV6s, and were also sold by Alfa Ricambi and other aftermarket wheel dealers; both have been out of production for about fifteen years. They could be considered a precursor of the "phone dial" style, but much more architectonic, having twelve round holes (vs. the SZ's ten) in a flat face with a precisely articulated rim. The bad news, apart from unavailability, is that there have been reports of the GTV6 version cracking under competition stresses. The good news, for Ben's interests, is that the 14 x 6 Alfetta size is common enough, in the USA, to probably be relatively easy to obtain a good set, and also less likely to have been pushed to the edge of failure. I would be comfortable enough with a reasonably vetted set, although there is always some risk with old used parts. 
 
John H.
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