Verde (and other) wheels

["John Hertzman" <johnhertzman@domain.elided>]

I was very interested to read both Nizam's and Paul Mitchell's comments on
Verde wheels.

It should go without saying that my interest in Milanos (and all Alfas) is as
road cars (I've never been on a track and probably never will be), strongly
tempered by interest in design from a primarily conceptual and secondarily
aesthetic basis. That is gross over-simplifying, but should do. If I was
interested in track events I might also let tire availability run the wheel
choices, but I'm not. The probably fastest dual-use, road & track Milano
driver I have known remarked "That's why I prefer 14" wheels" after dropping
my Milano's 15" 195/55 tires in a pothole on a neighborhood street; "Bent too
many rims", he said. I've been lucky; my wife bent just two on one unavoidable
pothole.

I couldn't agree more with Nizam's high opinion of Ronal A-1s, but they were
an aftermarket wheel which went out of production in the eighties, I believe,
with the last old-stock new wheels sold long ago, and have since tended to be
expensive on the used-wheel market. The four-lug 6 x 14" A-1 fitted to some
Alfettas by ARI is not hard to find at reasonable prices if one is patient,
but if I could get the 15" five lug A-1s for twice what I have paid for
factory GTV-6 or 164 wheels I would gladly buy a few sets. I can't agree with
his statement that "On top of that, they are also the "phonedial" style so you
won't stray from the OE look"; both types have round holes, but to my eyes
there is a world of difference, done-right rather than done-wrong, in the
form, proportion, articulation, and probably structure of the two wheels, as
much difference as one could get between two different spoked wheels or two
different directional wheels.

I was surprised by Paul Mitchell saying that some of the early Verdes had the
slotted Speedlines, but he is certainly correct; Road & Track's test car
(September '87 issue, would have been in the mailbox late July) had the
slotted wheels. The Verde featured in a major introductory article in the
Volume 4 Number 1 issue of Il Quadrifoglio, the ARI PR department's
publication, has the phonedials, and I assume that the early slotted-wheel
Verdes were a short-term make-do to bridge some temporary supply problem. Both
the styling modifications (introduced on the Twin Spark) and the three liter
engine had their European press launch in March 1987, according to d'Amico &
Tabucchi, and in the photos they publish both the March '87 introduction car
and the last version with the new grill, introduced in March 1990, have the
non-slotted alloys which appear to be the same ones used on the US "Gold"
Milano.

It has been interesting over the years to watch wheel diameters steadily move
downward - 19" on the 2300, 18" on the 2500, 17" from 1946, 16" on the 1900,
15" Giulietta, 14" 1750, and then start climbing back up again, at least in
the USA. I have wondered just how much of the Mini's success was due to the
fabulous roadholding which depended in large part on its miniscule unsprung
weight which certainly benefited from the 10" wheels. Our wheel choices now
are affected by tire availability which is certainly being affected by
fashion; big wheels get the juices flowing. The Alfa 33 Stradale which many
would like to copy as a kit car wore 5.25-13 tires on the front and 6.00-13
tires on the rear; the GT Am also wore 13" wheels. I can't help wondering what
wheels and tires would be chosen today by the listers who would like to build
a 33 'replica'. Would they be satisfied with 14"? Or would they still want to
improve even more on what those factory bean-counters did?

Cheers

John H.

Raleigh, N.C.

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