– HERITAGE SERIES –
The new Duralluminio rim was introduced by Borrani during 1931. Like Borrani, Alfa Romeo were a Milan based company heavily involved in racing, so were the natural choice for testing this new experimental rim built with the light alloy (type 6082) and named “CERCHI TIPO DD”.
Of course the Alfa Romeo drivers were very excited by the new product, lighter steering, less rotating mass, easier to be balanced and stronger. An all new world and a new must for racing and sports cars ever since! The very first cars equipped with them were the Alfa Romeo P2 and all Maserati models, these brands gave the Borrani light alloy wire wheels many victories and records. In fact Borrani’s original motto in the 1930s was “THE WHEELS OF VICTORY”, changing post WWII to “WHEELS OF RECORDS”, this is why the light alloy Borrani wire wheel series is called “Record” to this day.
The product was so innovative and improved performance to such a degree that the German Auto Union and Mercedes teams equipped their race vehicles with them, just like most F1 cars until 1960 and sports cars for a decade more.
There are many unique wheels designed by the Borrani technical office, some just for race cars and others for road use, so for the new “Heritage Series” the factory has chosen the most popular ones (some sizes will not be included in this series due to the lack of vehicles that would fit them), to launch the original, 100% correct in every detail, light alloy wheels, again available for our customers called the “Heritage Series”.
– Description & Construction –
The original Borrani alloy rims manufactured until the late ‘40s were built without welding and were made as an extruded bar, curved, shaped and joined together by a riveted alloy plate. It is only in 1948 with the development of modern welding technologies that Borrani was able to manufacture a clean rim without any joining plates.
Many rim profiles were available and all of them were custom designed by the Borrani technical office. The rolled extruded bars had several key features: any diameter was possible, they were capable of making very sharp rim edges and unique designs, like the RW01-3380, which allowed the lacing of a wire wheel for vehicles with space limited by narrow bodies such as Aston martin DB3S and Alfa Romeo 3000CM.
The classic Borrani rim shape features sharp corners, round wells and indents used to create structural strength. Unfortunately this construction technique is only suited to high volume production. It is for this reason that this technology was abandoned in the early ‘90s for the spun metal technique a method more suited to today’s low volume demands.
Even if some of the peculiar features of the classic rim shapes were possible with the new spun rims, like the reinforced 9mm thick wells and side walls from ‘60s wheels, metal spinning had its limitations, the most noticeable being the rounded corners.
After more than 2 years of prototyping, studying, modifications and considerable investment Borrani has been able to realize the tall walls and sharp corners of their original wheels.
That is why we are extremely proud to present to the classic car community our “Heritage Series” of Borrani wheels.
– Heritage VS Original –
The factory can now manufacture authentic style, brand new Borrani rims according to the original specification and design, 100% correct, but better!
While the old rolled/welded rims had some weak spots, such as the welding and the difficult to control circularity, the new “Heritage” rim is a marriage of perfect roundness and perfect shape born from the metal spinning, and the old “by the drawing” style.
The uniqueness of this construction method also involves the use of light alloy type 6082, as has always been used, but from pure material, that means no recycled metal is contained. This is a must to keep the alloy grain as small as possible (even if the metallurgic composition is the same on a mixed alloy it won’t react equally) to allow cold deformation and perfect results. In short, it is the best rim with top quality material and the true original shapes.
The “Heritage series” will please the eyes of the more demanding collector and satisfy those who ask for top quality! Today the “Heritage series” will look correct while being safer and better performing than ever.
– For more info, assistance or quotes, please contact us –
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