1967 Duetto With Original 15 Inch Wheels?

[shadow5559]

Hi, I am working on a one owner very original 1967 Duetto that was given to my daughter to sell in order to raise some money for her new home. I hope complete the car and list it for sale in the next couple of weeks, probably on ebay. I will hate to see it go but that was the deal when I started the project.

My question has to do with the wheels and tires the car. It has 15 inch wheels that appear to be steel wheel with sort of a honeycomb aluminum or magnezium centers. The tires are 155-sr-15's. Can anyone tell me anything about these wheels? I have the original bill of sale and the owner remembers being with her father when he bought the car and these wheels were an option. The bill of sale listed them as "special wheels" I have a photo of the wheel however this is my first post and I am not sure I can add the photo.

One more question, can I replace the tires with 155-80 sr15's without a problem? I could be wrong but I thing the older tires were mostly an 80 series.

[60sRacer]

Looks like a clunky Snow tire. No idea about the 'special' wheels - but they probably were a dealer installed aftermarket wheel. If you want original, the original alfa 15 inch steel wheels are prpbably available for a few dollars. they had snap-on hubcaps (harder to find). Also, the lug nuts on the left side are right hand thread, on the right side are left hand thread. The next car - 1969 1750 with Spica Injection -had 14 inch wheels, which fit 185/70 or 195/65 tires well. The left hand lug nuts are hard to find.

Robert

[Charlie DiMarco]

Robert,

Left hand lugs now available at http://www.serpentautosport.com/accessories.htm

[shadow5559]

I removed one of the wheels today and the inside center is stamped "Alfa Romeo" "Rader" "USA". Anyone know anything about these?

I think the wheels will clean up ok however I am still not sure if I can use 155/80SR15 tires on the car without any problems. I can get B F Goodrich tires in this size quickly without breaking the bank and I definetely need to get the current snow tires off the car. If anyone has an opinion on the tires please let me know.

Thanks and have a great day!

[modena57]

i am looking for a duetto can you give me info on your car
thanks.
modena57@cs.com

[shadow5559]

I am new to the Alfa board, can I post the info on the car that modena57 is looking for here for the benefit of other readers?

[shadow5559]

This car is an original 1600 Duetto with just under 88000 original miles. There is no memory of any major components being changed therfore I would be comfortable saying that the car has matching numbers. The car was purchased new by my son in laws grandfather and later passed down to his mother after his grandfathers passing. It pretty much sat in his grandmother garage in New Jersey where it has spent it's entire life. His mom kept the car mostly for sentimental reasons and rarely used the car since 1999. At one point she had the car picked up and brought to the dealer because it would not start. They removed and cleaned the fuel tank and replaced the lines and so on, did some front end work and serviced the car to get it back in operation, It ran great when it came out of the shop and unfortunately it again ended up spending a lot of time sitting in the garage only to find again that it would not start which was due to the carburetors being gummed up. After spending several thousands on the car the last time it went in the shop my son in laws mom decided to let go of the car. She gave the car to her son and my daughter to help raise some money for a deposit on a new home.

I offered to get the car back into shape and sell it for them. After going down to new jersey and getting the car running which took all of a couple of hours I was able to drive the car about 250 miles to my home without any problems however it did need some work. The body looked half decent with no serious rust problems however as I inspected it closer I found that the front floors were beginning to rust away. In addition the convertible top was completely shot and the seats needed work, and so on. I have included a few photos of what she looked like when I picked her up.

My son agreed to assist with getting the car back into shape which was a great thing because he is very good at body work which I personally don't care to deal with. We have now replaced the floors with new replacement floor pans and ordered and received several replacement parts for the car including a new stayfast black top and seat covers and many other smaller items such as the original round mirror to replace the square one in the photo. The bodywork is just about completed and the car should be painted in the next couple of weeks. As soon as I figure out which tires I can use I will also replace the tires.

This car is very original and was truly loved by the current owner and her dad. In fact the current owner has great memories of going with her dad to help him pick out the car. I do have the original books and copies of the original bill of sale which also list the "special wheels" and a optional becker stereo that by the way still works.

I have spent about three thousand dollars to buy the parts to bring the car back to life. My intention is to place the car on ebay when it is finished however, if the right offer comes along it may go before I have a chance to list it. I would by it myself however I have too many toys already including my jag convertible so I really don't need it.

[rogerspeed]

You have asked about tire size, I don't think you could go wrong with an SR 165x15. It will fit the rim, have no appearence problems and be close, if not, the original size