Re: Wheels

[Scott Fisher <sefisher@domain.elided>]

To respond to Robin Boyar's question about wheels --

My copy of the IAP catalog, which lists the GTA wheels, also mentions
that they use  a unique-to-the-GTA 98mm bolt circle.  That's a good
thing for me, otherwise I'd have to explain to my wife why I want to
spend $495 apiece on wheels for the Alfa that already has cool period
aftermarket alloys on it. :-)  (I've documented those wheels at
http://www.living-history.org/classics/serpent/wheels.html if you'd like
to take a look at another interesting period option.)

I'll let Steve Schaeffer chime in here with a pointer to the pictures of
the cool wheels he found (*very* Sixties!), but I will ask: if you want
something that looks both fairly historically accurate and also is
effective/safe on the track, have you considered the Panasports? 
They're fairly close reproductions of the Minilite wheels which were de
rigueur on all kinds of sports cars in the Sixties (true MLs typically
have an inner raised rim around the center section of the wheels that's
lacking on the Pana's).  Simon Favre, I believe, has them on his
Giulietta Spider, and they look very appropriate (not to mention
gorgeous) even on an early Sixties Alfa.  

I can also vouch for Panasports from a performance standpoint, as we
used them on the autocross Mi*t* that a friend of mine owned -- still
does, I think, but he lives a state and a half away (which is like 14 or
15 states away back east, or 9 countries in Europe, or somewhere out in
the Indian Ocean for New Zealanders :-).  They are indeed very light
wheels, one-piece alloy, and are used on many road-racing cars as well
as time-trialers and autocrossers.  I won my first autocross driving
that car, so the wheels must be good, right?  (Yeah, and if you drink
Bud Light, *you* could win the Indy 500 too! :-)

The aesthetics, of course, are entirely up to you, but from the
standpoint of track safety and performance, the Panasports are a natural
choice, and readily available (they're in the IAP catalog, for instance,
among other places).  Would they look right on your Duetto?  Only you
can say.  

Best,

 --Scott Fisher
   '74 Spider with steel wheels/center caps
   '67 GT Junior with Stil-Auto "MI" wheels

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