Appia wheel color

[Dave Stebbins]

Hi Everyone,

The wheels on my series 3 Appia need to be repainted. The ones I have are not original to the car. One is silver and the others are mostly rusty, but are a fairly clean white where the rust isn't.

Is there a standard factory color for Appia wheels? I come from the Giulietta world where all the wheels are silver. Looking at the Appia pictures I've collected shows quite a variety: I've seen white, ivory/cream, silver, black, and body color, often two tone with either the rim or center silver or white.

My Appia was originally a very creamy off white/ ivory. The interior still is, but the exterior has been repainted a slightly more yellow straw color.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts.

Dave Stebbins

[jean-marie]

Have you soon painted your wheels?
It seems that the original color was the same that for the Aurelia: a cream colur which changes with time, in ligt cream. Bianco avvorio antico.
Coluors from 50 years ago were oxyding very quickly and colour was getting much heller.
Having tested it for an Aurelia : the colour is not too bright, very olffashioned and corresponds with other colours components of the car.
When you are interested in sent me your email so that I can sent photos.
Regards

[Dave Stebbins]

Hi,

I have purchased the paint but I have not painted the wheels yet. The paint is a cream/ivory color that is a close match to the original color of the car. The interior of the car is still the original color, but the exterior has been repainted in an ivory color that has more yellow in it than the original.

-Dave

[TonyC]

The creamy off white color seems to be the orginal color as that is what mine were. On my 3rd series sedan, the wheels were two toned, with the off white in the center and then what appears to be the body color on the outer part of the wheel. I had the wheels re-painted in off white quite a few years ago due to the cost of the two tone, but I am thinking of having them re-painted two tone.
Hope this helps.
Tony C

[Geoff]

We are all familiar with the creme color off-white center on the Lancia wheels, with body color on the outer portion. I studied our s. 2 Appia, an unrestored car, with an original un-messed-with spare in trunk. This spare has the original whitewall tire, not ever used, and has the creme center paint.

Curiously its creme color is not so much yellow as greyish creme in tint.There is no evidence of repainting, and its underneath the silver paint of the outer wheel, so it came first. And when we stripped the other wheels for painting, found no primer beneath the creme color, nor any evidence of any other paint.

It doesn't appear to have oxidized, having spent its 50 years in a dark trunk. Its surprising how varied aging can be to these creme colors.

Geoff

(rev'd 6.8.09)

[TonyC]

Hi Geoff,
Yes, my spare wheel and tire are as yours are, two tone with a whitewall spare tire. As I have not repainted the spare, I will use it as an example to have the rims painted the two tone colors.
I sure wish I could find some whitewalls at a reasonable price!
T