Richard's 15" wheels (was: re: Offset when welding wider rims on steel wheels)

["John Hertzman" <johnhertzman@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Responding to Biba's "According to Fusi, Alfa had switched to the 1750 by '68,
along with 14" rims", Richard Welty writes "my early 68 GTV 1750 has 15" steel
wheels which are stock so far as i know."

Parts books, including the Catalogo Rapido, all agree with Biba and Fusi, and
without checking I will wager that all earliest new-model road tests of the
1750s will list 14". Perhaps somebody among the early owners of Richard's car
preferred the lighter steering and tossable handling of the 155-15s he was
used to from the earlier cars over the new-fangled 165-14.

Biba also wrote that the Spider of which the question was initially asked
"should have the stainless hubcaps with the smaller plastic black ring." I was
about to agree with him but ran into a Groucho Marx type question, who ya
gonna believe - - The parts books all show 1750 GT Veloces and Berlinas
sharing a hubcaps with the larger plastic black ring, and 1750 Spiders using
the one with the smaller ring, (which had first appeared on the 1600 Sprint GT
Veloce) but the photographic evidence, in Fusi and elsewhere, shows the
Spiders using the same hupcaps as the coupes and sedans, year for year.

Tangent to the subject heading, from fractured wheels I have seen I would be
very antsy about mounting wide, grippy tires on wider rims on 15" wheel cores.
You might get away with it, but - -

John H.
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