Serpent Auto Sport

Serpent Autosport was established to make available to other Alfa owners a 16" alloy wheel option. My quest to find the perfect wheel for my 1966 Duetto Spider started soon after acquiring the car in 1977. As a broke college student I had just enough money (thanks Dad) to keep the car running as a daily driver. Once I had an income of my own I never found the perfect wheel, it seemed one thing or another kept it from happening. I have owned my Duetto for 25 years. And now that Duettos are better appreciated in their stock configuration I gave up on the wish to find the perfect wheel for it. But three years ago I started the search all over again with a 1986 Spider. Now here is a car I can personalize and not feel I will be ruining a future classic (at least for 30 years).

The requirements for the perfect wheel are: to maintain the stock outside tire diameter, use a modern low profile high performance tire. It must also have the correct offset and backspacing so no rubbing occurs. And also as important it must compliment the unique and classic design of the car. Looking at the styles offered by the aftermarket I quickly found out that the styles I liked would not fit my Spider or where out of production and no longer available. So, I began considering the offerings from the Alfa Romeo parts suppliers. They had all the different wheels from the factory and a few aftermarket styles. They did have Cromodora and Panasport wheels and those brands certainly look terrific on Alfas, but they are to common and not quite the right size to be my perfect wheels. I then turned my search to the custom built wheel segment. Custom wheel manufacturers build wheels to fit any vehicle's requirements for width, offset, and bolt pattern. I soon discovered this category is very expensive. To put $3500.00 wheels on a car I paid 5 grand for is just not right! It's better to leave these wheels to the Ferrari guys.

• Phone or FAX: (818) 848-3681

• E-MAIL: charliedimarco@aol.com

• Web Site: www.serpentautosport.com

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