Reproduction Center Caps For Cromodora CD-27 & CD-58

[Dan Sarandrea (Phila)]

Center caps for Cromodora CD-27 and CD-58 wheels are very hard to come by because the attachment system was dependent upon user attention to detail. Consequently, many ended up flying off "disco volante" style into the weeds and gone forever. Further confounding wheel enthusiasts, the vast majority of the center caps were engraved with the FIAT leaning squares logo, which does not mesh well with those driving later Bertone-badged cars. A very small percentage of caps were made with a raised Bertone "b" logo and most commonly seen in pictures of the CD-27 installed on the early "Corsa" edition of the X1/9, or with the engraved oval Cromoroa logo.

A person in Italy on the Facebook FIAT X1/9 Buy and Sell forum Gennaro Pellegrino is offering reproductions of these caps. He has made the FIAT leaning squares version, and has also made both raised and engraved Bertone "b" versions. I have asked him to make the Cromodora oval logo version and he is going ahead with the digitizing process. He has previously sold these caps for 140 Euro plus PayPal fees and shipping, but current pricing is in flux due to a change in material supplier.

If you are on Facebook please contact Gennaro directly. For those who are not on Facebook his email is catruoppolo
@
libero.it

 

[Jeff Stich]

Further confounding wheel enthusiasts, the vast majority of the center caps were engraved with the FIAT leaning squares logo, which does not mesh well with those driving later Bertone-badged cars. A very small percentage of caps were made with a raised Bertone "b" logo and most commonly seen in pictures of the CD-27 installed on the early "Corsa" edition of the X1/9, or with the engraved oval Cromoroa logo.

For the confounded...

The Cromodora CD-27 wheels were originally used on the 1967/8 Bertone 850 Racer, then on the Bertone 128 Sedan prototype the following year, as well as on the Fiat 850 Sedan-based Bertone factory shuttle (mini-van/bus). A few years later, they were also fitted to the X1/9 Corsa. These used stainless-steel center caps with either the Bertone "b" logo or the engraved Cromodora oval-script. The F/I/A/T logo was just being introduced at the time (1968) & not being applied just yet to many of the cars.

The F/I/A/T-script caps were made for the Cromodora CD-58 wheels that were fitted to the X1/9 1300. These caps were most often aluminum or very thin steel rather than the thicker stainless used on the previous version (* though some early CD-58's came with the stainless engraved Cromodora oval-script caps). The CD-58 had the Bertone name cast into the rim, hence the non-use of a Bertone name on the cap, opting for the current (for the time) F/I/A/T logo instead.

By the time of the Bertone-badged X1/9 1500, both the CD-27 & CD-58 wheels were already out of production.

Obviously, some cross-pollenization of caps vs. wheels occurred as caps were lost from cars & vendor re-supply was fairly limited. Some dealers also mixed & matched wheels/caps according to what stock they had on hand.

 

[Jeff Stich]

What material are these reproduction caps being made of? Plastic, aluminum, steel or stainless-steel? I might be interested in a set of the engraved Cromodora script type if he makes some, to go on the CD-27's I have yet to buy (haha).