60 years of the best Ferrari alloy wheels | Axon’s Automotive Anorak

Never one of the great motoring innovators, historically Ferrari tended to follow the lead of other more-adventurous automotive pioneers, cautiously taking a while to introduce new technologies and formats, such as mid-engined competition and road-going models years after pioneers such as Cooper, Lotus and Matra. Plus, it was equally slow to present its first all-wheel-drive model, the FF, and its first five-door cross-over SUV, the Purosangue.

Ferrari chose to first equip one of its competition cars – the 1963 Ferrari 156 F1 grand prix racer – with lightweight alloy wheels, but the first Ferrari production road car to wear alloy wheels wasn’t presented until 60 years ago with the new for 1964 Ferrari 275 GTB Berlinetta and 275 GTS Spyder GTS.

These alloy road wheels were offered as an extra-cost option for the very first time as an alternative to the 275’s standard Borrani chromed wire wheels, which were still fitted with traditional chromed knock-off spinners, as found on a number of other contemporary prestigious sports cars shod with wire wheels. These aggressively-styled new Campagnolo-made optional alloys were veined with ten small square holes on an inner edge of the wheel’s wide rim.

The same alloy later featured as options on the subsequent Ferrari 275/4, 330 GTC/GTS and 365GTC/GTS models, too, but became standard fitment for the very first time in 1967 for the range-topping Ferrari 365 GT 2+2, with chromed Cromadora wire wheels becoming a no-cost option.

As well as introducing its first road-going alloys, 60 years ago Ferrari also presented the first of what would go on to become the Maranello marque’s ‘signature’ alloy wheel format on its 158 F1 and later 512 F1 grand prix cars. These Formula 1 monoposto racers were shod with a simple and practical, but stylish, star-format five-spoke alloy wheel.

This pleasing five-spoke alloy design was inevitably later seen on a production Ferrari, with the 1968 365 GTB/4 (a.k.a. Daytona) debuting the classic Pininfarina-styled five-spoke alloy. Produced for Ferrari by Speedline, the classic ‘signature’ five-spoke alloy went on to become the ‘regular’ standard wheel design template for countless subsequent Ferrari models, often in subtly updated and modified forms and used right up to today’s Ferrari SF90 XX and Daytona SP3 models, the former featuring five black spokes on a highly polished chrome rim.

Non-five spoke alternative alloy wheel designs did occasionally emerge from Maranello, among the most memorable being for the original 1968 Dino 206 GT (strictly speaking never branded as a Ferrari, although built at Maranello), which wore more complex new split six-spoke alloys with a three-pointed centre hub. 

For the later Dino 246 GT and GTS, the three-pointed chromed centre hub was replaced by a simpler but less stylish black circular hub car with the yellow Dino logo in the middle, mounted on the same six-spoke alloy wheel by Cromadora. The controversial Bertone-design 308 GT4 that superseded the beloved Pininfarina Dino GT in 1973 utilised a similar, but all-new, six-spoke alloy with a small chromed centre hub cap, adorned with a Dino logo up until 1976 and a Ferrari badge from then on, when the model officially became part of the ‘regular’ Ferrari programme.

Though smart, the alloy wheels fitted to the Dino models never quite matched the style, simplicity or elegance of the classic five-spoke alloys that have graced almost every Ferrari model since their 1968 ‘Daytona’ debut. Notable updates of this wheel have included the exaggerated five ‘spear’ spokes of the 1999 360 Modena, five spoke ‘star fish’ alloy interpretations of the 1995 F50 and twin spokes of the 2002 Enzo.

With the exception of the low-volume 2003 360 Challenge Stradale, which wore complex multi-spoke alloys to reflect the wheel design of the contemporary F 2003 GA Formula 1 car, few, if any other car maker can match such loyalty and continuity by sticking to one basic wheel design, albeit substantially updated and modified over the years to keep pace with the latest trends and fashions.

Even the more complex alloys of the current Ferrari Roma and 812 GTS, although quite different from the simplicity of Pininfarina’s original 1968 design, still reflect 60 years of the important Ferrari five-spoke principal.