Re: Q. re: Cromadora wheel restoration

[Carscribe@domain.elided]

The Cromadora "Daytona" for Alfas actually became available on the market in late '71 according to both a Cromadora brochure of the period and a Japanese performance catalog I have. They also show many other fitments, including BMW 1600/1602/2002, Fiat 124, Datsun and others.

They were available in either metallic silver or gold painted finishes, neither of which were overly glossy as shown. They also show a round Cromadora logo foil decal placed in the center of one of the spokes. 

I've seen two diffent original period plastic center caps-- one with the Alfa logo, and another with the Cromadora logo in red of blue, which seems to be the most common. Chrome plated aftermarket Alfa logo caps were, and still may be, available from ASG/AR Ricambi. 

Anyways, I hope that that answers the original finish and available date questions somewhat. As far refinishing oringal examples, considering that they are magnesium and tend to badly deteriorate if left unfinished or with a damaged finish, I'd use as high of quality paint as possible, go easy with the media blasting, and avoid chemical stripping altogether. I had mine refinished with single-stage base and clear coat combination in silver with barely any metallic content, sprayed over a zinc-chromate primer for non-ferrous metals. I paid a reputable restoration shop in the Los Angeles area $50 per wheel for this, which included stripping and prep. I would have spent about that much on materials alone had I done it myself, not to mention my time. 

I've saved a faded but legible example of the original Cromadora decal from a previous set of original wheels I had. I hope to someday scan it, touch it up digitally, and offer a run of reproduction decals-- but that's currently a ways off. 
Good Luck,
Paul Mitchell

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